Mark Histed.

Mark Histed

Chief of the Unit on Neural Computation and Behavior
U.S. National Institute of Mental Health

Mark Histed is chief of the Unit on Neural Computation and Behavior at the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health. His lab aims to understand brain function by studying how connected networks of neurons process information. This work employs brain stimulation methods, behavioral assays and a close interaction between mathematical models and experiment.

Histed has a S.B. in biology with a minor in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. from MIT in the brain and cognitive sciences department, working with Earl K. Miller. He did postdoctoral fellowships with R. Clay Reid and John H.R. Maunsell at Harvard University. Before moving to NIMH, he was a research faculty member at the University of Chicago. He has also had adjunct faculty positions at the University of Maryland and George Mason University.

Explore more from The Transmitter

DNA strand

Exon-skipping approach boosts levels of key Rett syndrome protein

Deleting a small region of the MECP2 gene partially restored function in neurons derived from people with Rett-associated variants.

By Giorgia Guglielmi
20 March 2026 | 5 min read
Collage with a portrait of Caitlin Vander Weele in the foreground.

Frameshift: How Caitlin Vander Weele made science communication her business

Her favorite part of research was talking about it. So she left academia and turned that passion into a successful company.

By Katie Moisse
19 March 2026 | 6 min read
Research image of senescing cells.

Signs of aging vary across brain cells

Senescence presents differently depending on the cell type, toxic trigger and neighboring cells, two new studies find.

By Claudia López Lloreda
18 March 2026 | 4 min read