Arash Fassihi is an assistant project scientist in David Kleinfeld’s laboratory at the University of California, San Diego. He studies how neural circuits transform sensory information into perception and coordinated action. His research combines quantitative behavioral analysis, electrophysiology and circuit manipulation to investigate tactile decision-making, memory, and motor coordination in active sensing. His current work examines how the superior colliculus and brainstem coordinate movements of the head, vibrissae, eyes and tongue during goal-directed behavior.
Fassihi earned his Ph.D. at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy, where he worked with Mathew Diamond on tactile and time perception, working memory and decision-making in rodents and humans. At UC San Diego, he investigates distributed sensorimotor circuits that organize natural behavior.
He is also involved in scientific community-building, including organizing the Middle Eastern Systems Neuroscience Symposium and serving as a teaching assistant at the NeuroBridge Summer School.
