Headshot of Vijay Mohan K. Namboodiri.

Vijay Mohan K. Namboodiri

Assistant professor of neurology
University of California, San Francisco

Vijay Mohan K. Namboodiri is assistant professor of neurology at University of California, San Francisco. His lab studies the neuronal network mechanisms underlying learning, memory and decision-making in both health and disease. Early work from his lab has focused on the algorithmic basis of associative learning and dopaminergic brain mechanisms underlying such learning.

Namboodiri earned his B.Tech in engineering physics from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, after which he earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, working with Marshall Hussain Shuler. Subsequently, he did a postdoctoral fellowship with Garret Stuber at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Washington.

Explore more from The Transmitter

Research figure of fly neurons transforming taste information into movements.

Fly taste connectome traces paths from sensation to action

The map—the first of its kind for an animal more complex than Caenorhabditis elegans—gives neuroscientists a trove of testable hypotheses about how neuronal circuits guide feeding behaviors.

By Lauren Schenkman
30 October 2026 | 5 min read
Gerry Fischbach at a podium.

Remembering Gerry Fischbach, ‘orchestra conductor’ who brought scientists together

Fischbach, who died 25 October, elucidated the dynamic changes in neuromuscular junctions. Beyond the lab, he shaped careers, academic departments and scientific societies.

By Claudia López Lloreda
29 October 2026 | 8 min read
Mouse wearing a white, cube-like device on its head.

WILD platform levels up ability to record brain activity, behavior in nature

The customizable rig combines multimodal recording, onboard processing and neuronal manipulation to power more complex experiments.

By Simon Makin
29 October 2026 | 6 min read