Thomas M. Jessell

Sponsored by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation

For the past two decades, Thomas Jessell has worked to understand how nerve cells in the developing spinal cord assemble into functional circuits that control sensory perception and motor actions. Ultimately, his research may provide a more thorough understanding of how the central nervous system is constructed and suggest new ways to repair diseased or damaged neurons in the human brain and spinal cord.

Thomas Jessell's research explores the link between the assembly and organization of neural circuits, and the behaviors they encode. He is examining these issues through an analysis of circuits in the mammalian spinal cord that control movement.