Our goal is to understand the general principles of organized brain dynamics:

  • How do we describe them: are there conserved statistical structures and spatiotemporal motifs in neural activity?
  • Where do they come from: what are the cellular and network mechanisms underlying these different patterns?
  • What are they useful for: what functions do they serve in behaviorally relevant computations?

To tackle these questions, we leverage a broad range of computational methods—including deep learning, simulator models, statistical data analysis, and signal processing—to analyze and interpret neural activity recordings and multimodal brain data. In parallel, we also contribute methodological advances and best practices that strengthen the application of AI for Neuroscience (AI4Neuro) research.

In the long-term, we hope to uncover general principles of neural dynamics, as well as to create theoretical and computational tools that can inform translational research and clinical applications.

Research Areas

Inverse mechanistic modeling of neural circuit dynamics

Inverse mechanistic modeling of neural circuit dynamics

We leverage computational frameworks, such as simulation-based inference, that combine probabilistic machine learning and biophysical models to infer circuit mechanisms underlying neural dynamics from brain recordings.

Foundation models of neural time series data

Foundation models of neural time series data

We develop self-supervised learning and generative modeling techniques to extract meaningful representations from large-scale datasets of neural activity recordings, enabling the discovery of latent structures and synthesis realistic neural data.

Neural signal processing and multimodal data integration

Neural signal processing and multimodal data integration

We combine data across species, scales, and modalities to derive novel features of neural activity—with a special focus on aperiodic and oscillatory dynamics—and link them to circuit mechanisms and function.

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Key Publications

Processes and measurements: a framework for understanding neural oscillations in field potentials

van Bree, S., Levenstein, D., Krause, M. R., Voytek, B., & Gao, R.

Trends in Cognitive Sciences (2025) , Vol. 29 , pp. 448–466

Deep inverse modeling reveals dynamic-dependent invariances in neural circuit mechanisms

Gao, R., Deistler, M., Schulz, A., Gonçalves, P. J., & Macke, J. H.

bioRxiv (2024)

Generating realistic neurophysiological time series with denoising diffusion probabilistic models

Vetter, J., Macke, J. H.*, & Gao, R.*

Patterns (2024) , Vol. 5 , pp. 101047

Latent Diffusion for Neural Spiking Data

Kapoor, J., Schulz, A., Vetter, J., Pei, F., Gao, R.*, & Macke, J. H*

Neural Information Processing Systems (2024) , pp. 118119–118154

Neural timescales from a computational perspective

Zeraati, R., Levina, A., Macke, J. H., & Gao, R.

arXiv (2024)

Generalized Bayesian Inference for scientific simulators via amortized cost estimation

Gao, R.*, Deistler*, M., & Macke, J. H.

Neural Information Processing Systems (2023) , pp. 80191–80219

Neuronal timescales are functionally dynamic and shaped by cortical microarchitecture

Gao, R., van den Brink, R. L., Pfeffer, T., & Voytek, B.

eLife (2020) , Vol. 9 , pp. e61277

Complex Oscillatory Waves Emerging from Cortical Organoids Model Early Human Brain Network Development

Trujillo, C. A.*, Gao, R.*, Negraes, P. D.*, Gu, J., Buchanan, J., Preissl, S., Wang, A., Wu, W., Haddad, G. G., Chaim, I. A., Domissy, A., Vandenberghe, M., Devor, A., Yeo, G. W., Voytek, B., & Muotri, A. R.

Cell Stem Cell (2019) , Vol. 25 , pp. 558-569.e7

Inferring synaptic excitation/inhibition balance from field potentials

Gao, R., Peterson, E. J., & Voytek, B.

NeuroImage (2017) , Vol. 158 , pp. 70–78
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