Alex Kwan, PhD

Dr. Kwan received a B.A.Sc. in Engineering Physics from Simon Fraser University and a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Cornell University. At Cornell, he developed nonlinear optical microscopes in the laboratory of Watt Webb. In 2009, he went to the University of California, Berkeley to work in the laboratory of Yang Dan, where he studied cortical microcircuits. He joined the Yale School of Medicine faculty in 2013.

Research in the Kwan lab focuses on the mouse medial prefrontal cortex. We are interested in how cortical circuits enable flexible decision-making, and how dendritic dysfunctions underlie neuropsychiatric disorders. Our expertise lies in developing and applying optical methods to record and control neural activity in behaving mice.