Terrence Sejnowski.

Terrence Sejnowski

Francis Crick Chair
Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Terrence Sejnowski holds the Francis Crick Chair at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He is also professor of biology at the University of California, San Diego, where he co-directs the Institute for Neural Computation and the NSF Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center. He is president of the Neural Information Processing Systems Foundation, which organizes an annual conference attended by more than 1,000 researchers in machine learning and neural computation and is founding editor-in-chief of Neural Computation, published by the MIT Press.

As a pioneer in computational neuroscience, Sejnowski’s goal is to understand the principles that link brain to behavior. His laboratory uses both experimental and modeling techniques to study the biophysical properties of synapses and neurons and the population dynamics of large networks of neurons.

He received his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School. He was on the faculty at the Johns Hopkins University before joining the faculty at the University of California, San Diego. He has published more than 300 scientific papers and 12 books, including “The Computational Brain,” with Patricia Churchland.

Explore more from The Transmitter

Revised statistical bar extracts less-common variants from autism genetics studies

Adjusting genetic analyses could help plug autism’s heritability gap, according to a new preprint.

By Holly Barker
12 March 2026 | 4 min read

Tom Griffiths describes how neural networks, logic and probability theory together explain cognition

In his new book, “The Laws of Thought,” Griffiths shows how these three pillars of study complement one another and together form a solid foundation to eventually explain all of our cognition, from brain to mind.

By Paul Middlebrooks
11 March 2026 | 100 min listen
Illustration of dopamine neurons.

This paper changed my life: Talia Lerner reflects on dopamine neuron diversity and the value of simple experiments

In a 2011 Neuron study, Stephan Lammel and his colleagues showed that dopamine neurons with different projections have different physiological properties. The work inspired Lerner to think about how to challenge widely held assumptions in the field.

By Talia Lerner
11 March 2026 | 6 min read

privacy consent banner

Privacy Preference

We use cookies to provide you with the best online experience. By clicking “Accept All,” you help us understand how our site is used and enhance its performance. You can change your choice at any time. To learn more, please visit our Privacy Policy.