John Reynolds is an American

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...

. He is a professor at the

Salk Institute for Biological Studies The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is a scientific research institute in the La Jolla community of San Diego, California. The independent, non-profit institute was founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine; among th ...

, adjunct professor at

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

, and member of the advisory board for the

Kavli Foundation (United States) The Kavli Foundation, based in Los Angeles, California, is a foundation that supports the advancement of science and the increase of public understanding and support for scientists and their work. The Kavli Foundation was established in Decem ...

Kavli Institute for the Brain and Mind. He studies perception and vision and is known for developing a computational model of attention that scientists use as a framework for understanding how the brain performs attentional selection.

Education

John Reynolds received his bachelor's of science in economics from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, and then completed his doctoral studies in cognitive and neural systems at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

. He then joined the

National Institute of Mental Health The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH, in turn, is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the primar ...

as an Intramural Research Fellow in their Laboratory of Neuropsychology.

Career and research

After his fellowship at the

, John Reynolds joined the

as an assistant professor in the Systems Neurobiology Laboratory in 2000. Currently, John Reynolds runs a lab at the

, where he works on developing models of the

visual system The visual system is the physiological basis of visual perception (the ability to perception, detect and process light). The system detects, phototransduction, transduces and interprets information concerning light within the visible range to ...

perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

, and

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

. In his time at the Institute, he has made several landmark discoveries in his field: * In 2004, he published a paper in

Annual Review of Neuroscience The ''Annual Review of Neuroscience'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes review articles relevant to neuroscience. In publication since 1978 by Annual Reviews, founding editor W. Maxwell Cowan led the editorial committee until h ...

describing how the brain attends to a specific stimuli by increasing its contrast against its surroundings. * In 2009, he published a paper in

Neuron (journal) ''Neuron'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Cell Press, an imprint of Elsevier. Established in 1988, it covers neuroscience and related biological processes. The current editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also ...

describing a model for studying attentional selection in the brain, which was dubbed the "normalization model of attention." * In 2013, he published again in

to reveal how neurons in the visual areas of the brain are highly dynamic, which allows the brain to predict the movement of stimuli. * In 2020, he published a paper in

Nature (journal) ''Nature'' is a British weekly scientific journal founded and based in London, England. As a multidisciplinary publication, ''Nature'' features Peer review, peer-reviewed research from a variety of academic disciplines, mainly in science and t ...

finding perception relies on traveling brain waves. John Reynolds' more recent work focuses on

aging Ageing (or aging in American English) is the process of becoming Old age, older until death. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi; whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentiall ...

and

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

, like his 2023 study detailing how the failure of

mitochondria A mitochondrion () is an organelle found in the cells of most eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is us ...

to produce sufficient energy in brain synapses may cause age-related cognitive decline. He is also working on new tools for studying neurons with

Mark Schnitzer Mark Schnitzer is a Professor jointly in the Biology and Applied Physics departments at Stanford University and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and is a recipient of a Paul Allen grant. His current research focuses on techniq ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and looking more at the aging brain with

colleague Fred Gage. John Reynolds has also participated in artistic collaborations, including serving on the board of the non-profit art project ''A SHIP IN THE WOODS'' and supporting

David Byrne David Byrne (; born May 14, 1952) is an American musician, writer, visual artist, and filmmaker. He was a founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American New wave music, new wave band Talking Heads. Byrne has ...

's immersive optical illusion show "Theater of the Mind."

Awards and honors

* 2022

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

Fellow * 2001

McKnight Foundation The McKnight Foundation is an American Minnesota-based family foundation. Established in 1953, the McKnight Foundation maintains a $2.5 billion endowment, which it distributes in grants. In 2022, the foundation issued $120 million, supporting Min ...

Scholar Award

References

External links

John Reynolds at Google Scholar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reynolds, John Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American neuroscientists Alzheimer's disease researchers Salk Institute for Biological Studies people Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science University of Pennsylvania alumni University of California, San Diego faculty