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Carl Petersen

carl.petersen@epfl.ch +41 21 693 17 21 https://www.epfl.ch/labs/lsens/

EPFL SV BMI LSENS
AI 3211 (Bâtiment AI)
Station 19
1015 Lausanne

Mission

The goal of the Laboratory of Sensory Processing is to obtain a causal and mechanistic understanding of simple forms of sensory perception and associative learning at the level of individual neurons and their synaptic interactions within the complex neuronal circuits of the mouse brain.
Carl Petersen studied physics as a bachelor student in Oxford (1989-1992). During his PhD studies under the supervision of Prof. Sir Michael Berridge in Cambridge (1992-1996), he investigated cellular and molecular mechanisms of calcium signalling. In his first postdoctoral period (1996-1998), he joined the laboratory of Prof. Roger Nicoll at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) to investigate synaptic transmission and plasticity in the hippocampus. During a second postdoctoral period, in the laboratory of Prof. Bert Sakmann at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg (1999-2003), he began working on the primary somatosensory barrel cortex, investigating cortical circuits and sensory processing. Carl Petersen joined the Brain Mind Institute of the Faculty of Life Sciences at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2003, setting up the Laboratory of Sensory Processing to investigate the functional operation of neuronal circuits in awake mice during quantified behavior.

Education

1992-1996. Doctoral Student. Advisor Prof Sir Michael Berridge at the University of Cambridge, England.
1989-1992. Bachelor Student of Physics (1st class degree) at the University of Oxford, England.

Positions

2019-2022. Director of the Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, EPFL, Switzerland.
2014-present. Full Professor. Head of the Laboratory of Sensory Processing, Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, EPFL, Switzerland.
2010-2013. Associate Professor. Head of the Laboratory of Sensory Processing, Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, EPFL, Switzerland.
2003-2009. Assistant Professor. Head of the Laboratory of Sensory Processing, Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, EPFL, Switzerland.
1999-2003. Post Doctoral Research Fellow. Advisor Prof Bert Sakmann, Department of Cell Physiology, Max-Planck-Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, Germany.
1996-1998. Post Doctoral Research Fellow. Advisor Prof Roger Nicoll, Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.
1991. Research Assistant. Advisor Prof Yasunobo Okada, Department of Physiology, Kyoto University, Japan.
1990. Research Assistant. Advisor Prof Ole Petersen, The Physiological Laboratory, University of Liverpool, England, UK.

Teaching & PhD

Current Phd

Lana Maria Smith, Axel Bisi, Aleksandra Zuzanna Teska, Pol Bech Vilaseca, Tâm Johan Nguyen, Morgane Alice Storey, Myriam Anne-Claire Hamon, Meriam Malekzadeh

Past Phd As Director

Riccardo Accolla, Sandrine Lefort, Céline Matéo, Michael Avermann, Aurélie Pala, Varun Sreenivasan, Matthieu Pierre Auffret, Dimitra Angeliki Vavladeli, Berat Semihcan Sermet, Georgios Foustoukos, Anastasiia Oryshchuk, Yanqi Liu, Parviz Ghaderi, Christos Sourmpis

Past Phd As Codirector

Jun Huang

Courses

Neuroscience: cellular and circuit mechanisms

BIO-482

This course focuses on the biophysical mechanisms of mammalian brain function. We will describe how neurons communicate through synaptic transmission in order to process sensory information ultimately leading to motor behavior.

Scientific project design in integrative neurosciences

BIO-493

In this course, students will investigate causal neuronal network mechanisms underlying sensory-guided decision-making in mice. Students will analyse published data to develop integrative neuroscience research projects including the design of new experiments to test specific falsifiable predictions.