Brendon Omar Watson, MD

Dr. Watson obtained his BA from Cornell University and his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University. During his Ph.D. he used two-photon microscopy to study fundamental behavior of neurons engaged in local microcircuit activations, finding that they are highly stereotyped from one network event to the next. During his doctoral work he also participated in technical development of multi-beam two photon imaging techniques. Upon graduation from medical school, Dr. Watson pursued a residency in Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College as well postodoctoral work at New York University. He received the National Institute for Mental Health’s Outstanding Resident Award, the American Psychiatric Association’s Lilly Research Fellowship and the Leon Levy Neuroscience Fellowship. He has since been working with Dr. Gyorgy Buzsaki at NYU to record ongoing activity in naturally behaving and sleeping animals. During his fellowship he has shown that sleep reorganizes neuronal firing architecture in the neocortex in previously unknowns ways. He is now combining his electrical recordings with optogenetic and behavioral tools to deepen his understanding of sleep and regulation of cortical brain circuits.

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