Headshot of Karthik Shekhar.

Karthik Shekhar

Assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering
University of California, Berkeley

Karthik Shekhar is John F. Heil Jr. Professor in the chemical and biomolecular engineering department at the University of California, Berkeley. His laboratory is cross-affiliated with neuroscience, vision science and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. His interests are at the interface of neuroscience, genomics and applied mathematics, and his group uses both experimental and computational approaches to understand how diverse types of neurons in the brain develop and evolve, and how they become selectively vulnerable during diseases. He has received the NIH Pathway to Independence Award, the Hellman Fellowship and the McKnight Fellowship in Neuroscience. He also recently received the Donald E. Noyce Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

From this contributor

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustration of hand with letter

Scientists push back against stricter European Research Council grant application rules

In an open letter, scientists call the ERC’s suggestion to block grant reapplications for an additional year “at odds with scientific excellence.”

By Lauren Schenkman
29 April 2026 | 5 min read
California sea hare.

New study questions role of persistent gene activity in memory maintenance

An experiment in sea slugs suggests transcriptional changes might fade after 24 hours.

By Siddhant Pusdekar
28 April 2026 | 4 min read

Tracking health in autistic adults, and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 27 April.

By Jill Adams
28 April 2026 | 2 min read