Austin Coley.

Austin Coley

Assistant professor of neurobiology
David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles

Austin Coley is assistant professor of neurobiology in the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. His lab focuses on the neural substrates, neural population activity and synaptic properties involved in depressive-like behaviors.

He earned his B.S. in biology at North Carolina Central University and his M.S. in cell physiology at Case Western Reserve University. He then earned his Ph.D. in neuroscience at Drexel University under the mentorship of Wen-Jun Gao, studying the synaptic proteins and mechanisms involved in schizophrenia. As a postdoctoral fellow in Kay Tye’s lab at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, he studied the effect of neural circuits on behavior, and state-dependent and region-specific cellular aberrations implicated in neuropsychiatric conditions.

Explore more from The Transmitter

Research image of neural activity in mouse auditory cortices.

Rise in autism prevalence but not traits; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 7 July.

By Jill Adams
8 July 2025 | 2 min read
A fly over a background of waves of different colors.

Drosophila, like vertebrates, filter sensory information during sleep

Predictive sensory processing in sleeping Drosophila echoes vertebrate research, establishing an evolutionarily conserved neural signature of sleep.

By Siddhant Pusdekar
8 July 2025 | 5 min read
Two researchers wander through stacks of pie charts.

Neuroscience’s open-data revolution is just getting started

Data reuse represents an opportunity to accelerate the pace of science, reduce costs and increase the value of our collective research investments. New tools that make open data easier to use—and new pressures, including funding cuts—may increase uptake.

By Benjamin Dichter
7 July 2025 | 6 min read