Nathaniel Himmel

I am a neuroscientist studying how life senses the world. My research spans behavioral neuroscience, genetics, molecular biology, and comparative genomics, with a historical emphasis on the molecular and neural basis of pain, touch, smell, and taste.

My lab primarily uses Drosophila genetics to uncover how sensory systems work, from genes and proteins to neural circuits and behavior. Beyond fundamental neuroscience, we also combine experimental and computational approaches to investigate how sensory systems differ across the tree of life, how those systems evolve, and how the molecular machinery underlying sensation emerged in the first place.

https://www.himmellab.org/