Carlos Ponce, M.D.,Ph.D.
Carlos Ponce, MD, PhD – Faculty Profile
If you prefer, you can view the visual layout directly on Canva: Open Carlos Ponce – Faculty Profile on Canva (opens in a new window) .
Title: Assistant Professor of Neurobiology, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School.
The Aim
The Ponce Lab studies how populations of neurons in visual cortex represent complex visual scenes, using brain recordings and AI models, and how these representations are shaped by brain state and experience.
The Impact
We use neuroscience and artificial intelligence to understand how the brain builds visual representations and guides moment‑by‑moment viewing behavior in natural scenes. By linking neural activity to what an individual chooses to look at, we aim to uncover the mechanisms that support perception in healthy brains and how they break down in altered states, including exposure to drugs of abuse. This work can deepen our understanding of disorders in which perception, attention, or visual decision‑making is disrupted, while also informing computational models of biological vision that are relevant to both basic neuroscience and translational research.
A Closer Look
Video: When Neurons Generate Images: Texture vs Object , Ponce Lab, YouTube, March 2026. In this video, Binxu Wang, Ph.D., and Carlos R. Ponce, M.D., Ph.D., use real‑time, neuron‑guided image generation in macaques to show that early visual areas prefer textures, while higher areas respond to both textures and objects, suggesting object recognition builds from shared local features. Video filming and editing by Kris Brewer.
Article: Seeing Shapes: Understanding brain’s visual system could inform development of better AI systems , Harvard Medical School, December 2021. The article describes how Carlos Ponce uses experiments and AI‑generated images to see which visual patterns most strongly activate single neurons, revealing how the brain encodes complex shapes.
Contact
Email: carlos@hms.harvard.edu
Lab website: ponce.hms.harvard.edu