Publications

Neural criticality, homeostatic plasticity, neurodegeneration, and computational neuroscience.

Peer-Reviewed Articles
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Experience-Dependent Intrinsic Plasticity in Layer IV of Barrel Cortex at Whisking Onset
Shallow MC, Tian L, Higashikubo BT, Lin H, Lefton KB, Chen S, Dougherty JD, Culver JP, Lambo ME, Hengen KB.
Description: Investigation of experience-dependent plasticity mechanisms in somatosensory cortex during critical developmental periods.
eNeuro
IF: 2.7
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Neurons throughout the brain embed robust signatures of their anatomical location into spike trains
Tolossa GB, Schneider AM, Dyer EL, Hengen KB (2025).
Description: Discovery that individual neurons carry information about their anatomical location in their firing patterns, providing new insights into the relationship between structure and function in the brain.
eLife
IF: 7.25
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Is criticality a unified set-point of brain function?
Hengen KB, Shew WL (2025).
Description: A comprehensive review exploring whether criticality serves as a fundamental organizing principle across different scales and contexts of brain function, from neural networks to behavior.
Neuron
IF: 18.7
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Protosequences in human cortical organoids model intrinsic states in the developing cortex
van der Molen T, Spaeth A, Chini M, Bartram J, Dendukuri A, Zhang Z, Bhaskaran-Nair K, Blauvelt LJ, Petzold LR, Hansma PK, Teodorescu M, Hierlemann A, Hengen KB, Hanganu-Opatz IL, Kosik KS, Sharf T.
Description: Study of early neural network development using human cortical organoids, revealing fundamental patterns of spontaneous activity that model intrinsic brain states.
Nature Neuroscience
IF: 27.7
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What if what matters is emergent?
Chopra R, Hengen KB (2025).
Description: Invited review examining the role of emergent properties in neuroscience and their implications for understanding brain function.
Neuron (Invited Review)
IF: 18.7
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Failure in a population: tauopathy disrupts homeostatic set-points in emergent dynamics despite stability in the constituent neurons
McGregor JN, Farris CA, Ensley S, Schneider A, Wang C, Liu Y, Tu J, Elmore H, Ronayne KD, Wessel R, Dyer EL, Bhaskaran-Nair K, Holtzman DM, Hengen KB (2024).
Description: Reveals how tauopathy disrupts population-level brain dynamics while individual neurons remain stable, providing new insights into neurodegenerative disease mechanisms.
Neuron
IF: 18.7
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A non-oscillatory, millisecond-scale embedding of brain state provides insight into behavior
Parks DF*, Schneider AM*, Xu Y, Brunwasser SJ, Funderburk S, Thurber D, Blanche T, Dyer EL, Haussler D, Hengen KB. *equal contribution
Description: Novel approach to understanding brain state through non-oscillatory neural dynamics, revealing millisecond-scale patterns that predict behavior.
Nature Neuroscience
IF: 27.7
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Visual deprivation during mouse critical period reorganizes network-level functional connectivity
Chen S, Rahn R, Bice A, Gaines S, Hengen KB, Dougherty J, Culver J.
Description: Investigation of how sensory experience shapes neural connectivity during critical developmental periods using advanced imaging techniques.
Journal of Neuroscience
IF: 5.3
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Sleep restores an optimal computational regime in cortical networks
Xu Y, Schneider A, Wessel R, Hengen KB (2024).
Description: Demonstrates how sleep restores optimal computational properties in cortical networks, providing mechanistic insights into sleep's role in brain function.
Nature Neuroscience
IF: 27.7
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Transcriptomic cell type structures in vivo neuronal activity across multiple time scales
Schneider A, Azabou M, McDougall-Vigier L, Parks DF, Ensley S, Bhaskaran-Nair K, Nowakowski TJ, Dyer EL*, Hengen KB* (2023). *corresponding author
Description: Links transcriptomic cell types to neuronal activity patterns across multiple timescales, bridging molecular and functional approaches to neuroscience.
Cell Reports
IF: 10.0
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Internet of Things Architecture for Cellular Biology
Parks DF, Voitiuk K, Geng J, Elliott MAT, Keefe MG, Jung EA, Robbins A, Baudin PV, Ly VT, Hawthorne N, Yong D, Sanso SE, Rezaee N, Sevetson J, Seiler ST, Currie R, Pollen AA, Hengen KB, Nowakowski TJ, Mostajo-Radji MA, Salama SR, Teodorescu M, Haussler D (2022).
Description: Development of Internet of Things infrastructure for high-throughput cellular biology research, enabling large-scale automated experiments.
ScienceDirect|Internet of Things
IF: 5.9
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Drop, Swap, and Generate: A Self-Supervised Approach for Generating Neural Activity
Liu R, Azabou M, Dabagia M, Lin CH, Azar MG, Hengen KB, Valko M, Dyer EL (2021).
Description: Novel machine learning approach for generating synthetic neural activity data using self-supervised learning methods.
Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems
IF: 9.71
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A MYT1L syndrome mouse model recapitulates patient phenotypes and reveals altered brain development due to disrupted neuronal maturation
Chen J, Lambo ME, Ge X, Dearborn JT, Liu Y, McCullough KB, Swift RG, Tabachnick DR, Tian L, Noguchi K, Garbow JR, Constantino JN, Gabel HW, Hengen KB, Maloney SE, Dougherty JD (2021).
Description: Development and characterization of a mouse model of MYT1L syndrome, revealing mechanisms of altered neuronal maturation in neurodevelopmental disorders.
Neuron
IF: 18.7
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Human microglia states are conserved across experimental models and regulate neural stem cell responses in chimeric organoids
Popova G, Soliman SS, Kim CN, Keefe MG, Hennick KM, Jain S, Li T, Tejera D, Shin D, Chhun BB, McGinnis CS, Speir M, Gartner ZJ, Mehta SB, Haeussler M, Hengen KB, Ransohoff RR, Piao X, Nowakowski TJ (2021).
Description: Investigation of human microglia in brain organoid models, revealing conserved states and regulatory functions in neural development.
Cell Stem Cell
IF: 24.9
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Construction and implementation of carbon fiber microelectrodes for acute and chronic in vivo recordings
Reikersdorfer KN*, Stacy AK*, Bressler DA, Hayashi LS, Hengen KB, Van Hooser SD (2021). *equal contribution
Description: Methodological paper detailing construction and use of carbon fiber microelectrodes for neural recording applications.
JOVE
IF: 1.2
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Homeostatic Mechanisms Regulate Distinct Aspects of Cortical Circuit Dynamics
Wu YK, Hengen KB, Turrigiano GG, Gjorgjieva J (2020).
Description: Theoretical and experimental investigation of how homeostatic mechanisms regulate different aspects of cortical circuit function.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
IF: 12.8
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Autism-Associated Shank3 Is Essential for Homeostatic Compensation in Rodent V1
Tatavarty V, Torrado Pacheco A, Groves Kuhnle C, Lin H, Koundinya P, Miska NJ, Hengen KB, Wagner FF, Van Hooser SD, Turrigiano GG (2020).
Description: Investigation of how Shank3, an autism-associated protein, regulates homeostatic plasticity in visual cortex.
Neuron
IF: 18.7
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Currently unstable: daily ups and downs in E-I balance
Brunwasser SJ, Hengen KB (2020).
Description: Invited review discussing daily fluctuations in excitatory-inhibitory balance and their functional significance.
Neuron (Invited Review)
IF: 18.7
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Cortical Circuit Dynamics Are Homeostatically Tuned to Criticality In Vivo
Ma Z, Turrigiano GG, Wessel R, Hengen KB* (2019). *corresponding author
Description: Seminal work demonstrating that cortical circuits are homeostatically maintained at the critical point between order and chaos in living animals.
Neuron
IF: 18.7
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Rapid and Active Stabilization of Visual Cortical Firing Rates Across Light-Dark Transitions
Torrado Pacheco A, Tilden EI, Gruztner SM, Lane B, Wu Y, Hengen KB, Gjorgjieva J, Turrigiano GG (2019).
Description: Investigation of how visual cortex rapidly adapts firing rates during light-dark transitions through homeostatic mechanisms.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
IF: 12.8
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Neuronal firing rate homeostasis is inhibited by sleep and promoted by wake
Hengen KB, Torrado Pacheco A, McGregor JN, Van Hooser SD, Turrigiano GG (2016).
Description: Landmark study revealing that sleep and wake states have opposite effects on homeostatic plasticity, with implications for sleep function.
Cell
IF: 57.5
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Daily isoflurane exposure increases barbiturate insensitivity in medullary respiratory and cortical neurons via expression of ε-subunit containing GABAARs
Hengen KB, Nelson NR, Stang KM, Johnson SM, Smith SM, Watters JJ, Mitchell GS, Behan M (2015).
Description: Investigation of anesthetic tolerance mechanisms involving GABA receptor subunit changes in respiratory control circuits.
PLoS ONE
IF: 3.8
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Firing rate homeostasis in visual cortex of freely behaving rodents
Hengen KB, Lambo ME, Van Hooser SD, Katz DB, Turrigiano GG (2013).
Description: First demonstration of firing rate homeostasis in freely behaving animals, establishing the physiological relevance of homeostatic plasticity.
Neuron
IF: 18.7
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Increased GABAA Receptor ε-Subunit Expression on Ventral Respiratory Column Neurons Protects Breathing during Pregnancy
Hengen KB, Nelson NR, Stang KM, Johnson SM, Crader SM, Watters JJ, Behan M (2012).
Description: Investigation of respiratory adaptations during pregnancy involving changes in GABA receptor expression. Selected by Faculty of 1000 as top 2% of published articles.
PLoS ONE
IF: 3.8
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Changes in ventral respiratory column GABAA ε and δ subunits during hibernation mediate resistance to depression by ETOH and pentobarbital
Hengen KB, Gomez TM, Stang KM, Johnson SM, Behan M (2011).
Description: Study of GABA receptor plasticity during hibernation and its effects on drug sensitivity in respiratory control circuits.
American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology
IF: 3.2
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An examination of orthographic and phonological processing using the task-choice procedure
Kahan TA, Hengen KB, Mathis KM (2010).
Description: Cognitive psychology study examining reading processes using experimental paradigms from decision-making research.
Language and Cognitive Processes
IF: 2.4
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Hibernation induces pentobarbital insensitivity in medulla but not cortex
Hengen KB, Behan M, Carey HV, Jones MV, Johnson SM (2009).
Description: Investigation of regional differences in drug sensitivity that develop during hibernation, focusing on brainstem versus cortical responses.
American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology
IF: 3.2
PDF DOI
Conference Proceedings
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Structural localization is embedded in the spike trains of neurons
Bekele Tolossa, G., Schneider, A., Hengen, K. (2024).
Description: Conference presentation exploring how neuronal location information is encoded in spike train patterns at COSYNE 2024.
Computational and Systems Neuroscience (COSYNE)
Abstract
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Detecting change points in neural population activity with contrastive metric learning
C. Urzay, N. Ahad, M. Azabou, A. Schneider, G. Atamkuri, K.B. Hengen, E.L. Dyer (2023).
Description: Machine learning approach for detecting changes in neural population dynamics using contrastive learning methods.
IEEE Conference on Neural Engineering (NER)
PDF DOI
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Drop, Swap, and Generate: A Self-Supervised Approach for Generating Neural Activity
R. Liu, M. Azabou, M. Dabagia, C-H. Lin, M. Gheshlaghi Azar, K.B. Hengen, M. Valko, E.L. Dyer.
Description: Oral presentation at NeurIPS (top 1% of submitted papers) on self-supervised neural activity generation.
Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) - Oral
PDF Link
Other Refereed Material
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Mine Your Own vieW: Self-supervised learning through across-sample prediction
M. Azabou, M. Gheshlaghi Azar, R. Liu, C-H. Lin, E.C. Johnson, K. Bhaskharan-Nair, M. Dabagia, K.B. Hengen, W. Gray-Roncal, M. Valko, E.L. Dyer.
Description: Workshop oral presentation on self-supervised learning methods for neural data analysis.
NeurIPS Workshop on Self-supervised Learning - Oral
PDF
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Using self-supervision and augmentations to build insights into neural coding
M. Azabou, M. Dabagia, R. Liu, C-H Lin, K.B. Hengen, E.L. Dyer.
Description: Workshop paper exploring self-supervised learning applications to understanding neural coding principles.
NeurIPS Workshop on Self-supervised Learning
PDF
Preprints
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Temperature-dependent predation predicts a more reptilian future
Grady JM, Amme JL, Bhaskaran-Nair K, Sinha V, Brunwasser SJ, Record S, Dell AI, Hengen KB.
Description: Interdisciplinary work examining how temperature affects predation dynamics and its implications for future ecosystem structure and climate change impacts.
Preprint
PDF Preprint
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Circuit-specific selective vulnerability in the DMN persists in the face of widespread amyloid burden
Brunwasser SJ, Farris C, Elmore H, Dyer EL, Bhaskaran-Nair K, Whitesell JD, Harris JA, Hengen KB.
Description: Investigation of selective vulnerability patterns in the default mode network in the context of Alzheimer's disease pathology.
Preprint
PDF Preprint
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Learning Sinkhorn divergences for supervised change point detection
N. Ahad, E.L. Dyer, K.B. Hengen, Y. Xie, M.A. Davenport.
Description: Machine learning methodology for detecting changes in time series data using optimal transport theory and Sinkhorn divergences.
arXiv Preprint
PDF arXiv
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2025_papers
setpoint
contact
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2025_team
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2025_papers
setpoint
contact
whiteboard
2025_team
2025_landing
rabbit_hole
Publications
Positions