Dr Adil Khan PhD

My lab studies the neural circuit basis of cognition. Cognition is a hallmark of intelligent behaviour, and includes functions such as working memory, decision making and attentional switching. While these phenomena have been traditionally studied in humans and primates, my lab has developed, and studies sophisticated cognitive tasks in mice and rats, allowing us to measure and manipulate the neural circuits underlying cognition down to sub-cellular resolution. We study how networks of diverse excitatory and inhibitory neurons compare predictions with reality to compute prediction-errors, and how such prediction-errors in prefrontal cortex drive animals to rapidly update their internal models of the world. To understand these phenomena, my lab combines chronic in-vivo two-photon calcium imaging of multiple cell classes, targeted optogenetic manipulations, viral-vector based circuit mapping, and quantitative mouse behavioural assays.

Please see my Research Staff Profile for more detail.

Find out more about my research:

• Khan Lab

Key Publications:

• Cole et al., 2022. Prediction error signals in anterior cingulate cortex drive task-switching. BioRxiv.
• Poort et al., 2022. Learning and attention increase visual response selectivity through distinct mechanisms. Neuron.
• Khan et al., 2018. Distinct learning-induced changes in stimulus selectivity and interactions of GABAergic interneuron classes in visual cortex. Nature Neuroscience.
• Poort et al., 2015. Learning Enhances Sensory and Multiple Non-sensory Representations in Primary Visual Cortex. Neuron.
• Khan et al., 2018. Contextual signals in visual cortex. Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 

View all publications

Key Collaborators:

• Professor Claudia Clopath, Imperial College London
• Dr Aditya Gilra, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, Amsterdam
• Dr Katharina Wilmes, Univeristy of Bern
• Dr Angus Chadwick, University of Edinburgh