Headshot of Adrienne Fairhall.

Adrienne Fairhall

Professor of physiology and biophysics, University of Washington;
Contributing editor, The Transmitter

Adrienne Fairhall is professor of physiology and biophysics and adjunct professor of physics and applied mathematics at the University of Washington in Seattle. She co-directs the Computational Neuroscience Program at the University of Washington with Eric Shea-Brown. Her work focuses on dynamic neural computation, with a particular interest in the interplay between cellular and circuit dynamics and coding in a wide variety of model systems, including Hydra, Drosophila, birds and primates.

Fairhall obtained her honors degree in theoretical physics from the Australian National University and her Ph.D. in statistical physics from the Weizmann Institute of Science. She received her postdoctoral training at the NEC Research Institute with Bill Bialek and at Princeton University with Michael J. Berry II.

Explore more from The Transmitter

ABCD Study omits gender-identity data from latest release

The removal counteracts the goals of the longitudinal study by “pretending that some aspects of adolescent brain development don’t exist,” says sex differences researcher Nicola Grissom.

By Calli McMurray
11 July 2025 | 4 min read
Leafcutter ants carrying leaves.

Neuropeptides reprogram social roles in leafcutter ants

The mechanisms that control the labor roles of ants may also be conserved in naked mole rats, a new study shows.

By Shaena Montanari
11 July 2025 | 7 min listen
Illustration of overlapping, multi-colored human head silhouettes.

Perspectives from the field: Opinions in autism research

This collection of Spectrum articles from the past 12 months highlights expert perspectives on autism’s heritability and its link to biological sex, the value of transdiagnostic frameworks, and the field’s future, among other topics.

By Daisy Yuhas
10 July 2025 | 3 min read