Cristopher Niell, Ph.D.

Cristopher Niell received his B.S. in physics at Stanford University, doing research in single-molecule biophysics with Steven Chu. He remained at Stanford to obtain his Ph.D. with Stephen Smith, studying the development and function of the zebrafish visual system. He then moved to the University of California, San Francisco for postdoctoral study with Michael Stryker, where he initiated studies of visual processing and behavioral state in the mouse cortex. He established his lab at University of Oregon in 2011, where he is professor in the Department of Biology and Institute of Neuroscience. Niell’s lab uses a combination of neural recording and imaging methods, ethological behaviors and computational analysis to study the neural circuits that underlie visually guided behavior and perception in the mouse and the octopus.