Anne Takesian
Program
Junior Fellow Academy
Appointment
Junior Fellow, Experience-based Brain and Biological Development
Institution
Children's Hospital Boston
Country
USA 
Anne Takesian is a CIFAR Junior Fellow working under the supervision of Experience-based Brain and Biological Development (EBBD) Fellow Takao Hensch in the Department of Neurology at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School. Anne obtained her Ph.D. in 2010 from the Center for Neural Science at New York University, with thesis advisors Drs. Dan Sanes and Vibhakar Kotak. Her doctoral research was supported by an individual fellowship award from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). She also holds a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and Biopsychology from Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Anne’s research is focused on understanding critical periods – restricted developmental windows when large-scale brain plasticity can occur. One compelling example of a critical period is the heightened capacity of infants and young children to acquire language. Anne is working to identify the mechanisms present in the developing brain that allow neural circuits to be readily sculpted by experience. The Hensch laboratory has previously found that a specific inhibitory circuit in the cortex plays an important role in the heightened plasticity during critical periods. For her doctoral work, Anne used electrophysiological techniques to show that inhibitory circuits in the auditory cortex can be altered by early auditory experience. As a Junior Fellow, Anne will explore how epigenetic regulation and cellular mechanisms modify these inhibitory circuits in auditory cortex, and thus change the plastic capacity of the brain. Understanding how and when experience impacts brain circuitry will not only instruct education policy, but will also provide insights into strategies to promote neural plasticity in adults.
Anne’s research is focused on understanding critical periods – restricted developmental windows when large-scale brain plasticity can occur. One compelling example of a critical period is the heightened capacity of infants and young children to acquire language. Anne is working to identify the mechanisms present in the developing brain that allow neural circuits to be readily sculpted by experience. The Hensch laboratory has previously found that a specific inhibitory circuit in the cortex plays an important role in the heightened plasticity during critical periods. For her doctoral work, Anne used electrophysiological techniques to show that inhibitory circuits in the auditory cortex can be altered by early auditory experience. As a Junior Fellow, Anne will explore how epigenetic regulation and cellular mechanisms modify these inhibitory circuits in auditory cortex, and thus change the plastic capacity of the brain. Understanding how and when experience impacts brain circuitry will not only instruct education policy, but will also provide insights into strategies to promote neural plasticity in adults.