Melissa Caras
Assistant Professor
Current contact information:
Email: mcaras@umd.edu
Phone: 301.405.1094
Office: 3220 Biology-Psychology Bldg
Lab Website: https://www.caraslab.org
Graduate Program Affiliations:
Research Interests:
The ability to improve and refine sensory facilities with practice - a process known as perceptual learning - is critical for the acquisition of a variety of complex behaviors, including speech and language. The fundamental importance of perceptual learning in shaping our day-to-day actions and perceptions makes it of vital interest to determine how training-based improvements are implemented in the brain. Dr. Caras explores this issue by measuring and manipulating the activation of neural circuits in freely-moving, behaving animals, with a primary focus on plasticity in auditory and top-down modulatory networks. Her laboratory employs a number of advanced approaches, including wireless recordings from multichannel electrode arrays, optogenetics, targeted infusions of pharmacological agents, quantitative animal behavior, and neuroanatomical tracing.
Recent publications:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/browse/collection/49125189/?sort=date&direction=descending
Education:
Ph.D. University of Washington
Postdoctoral Training New York University
Current contact information:
Email: mcaras@umd.edu
Phone: 301.405.1094
Office: 3220 Biology-Psychology Bldg
Lab Website: https://www.caraslab.org
Graduate Program Affiliations:
- Neuroscience and Cognitive Science (NACS)
- BISI- BISI-Physiological Systems (PSYS)
- BISI- BISI-Behavior, Ecology, Evolution, & Systematics (BEES)
Research Interests:
The ability to improve and refine sensory facilities with practice - a process known as perceptual learning - is critical for the acquisition of a variety of complex behaviors, including speech and language. The fundamental importance of perceptual learning in shaping our day-to-day actions and perceptions makes it of vital interest to determine how training-based improvements are implemented in the brain. Dr. Caras explores this issue by measuring and manipulating the activation of neural circuits in freely-moving, behaving animals, with a primary focus on plasticity in auditory and top-down modulatory networks. Her laboratory employs a number of advanced approaches, including wireless recordings from multichannel electrode arrays, optogenetics, targeted infusions of pharmacological agents, quantitative animal behavior, and neuroanatomical tracing.
Recent publications:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/browse/collection/49125189/?sort=date&direction=descending
Education:
Ph.D. University of Washington
Postdoctoral Training New York University