Christopher D. Harvey

Christopher D. Harvey, Ph.D.

Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School

Director of Admissions, Program in Neuroscience

Harvey Lab Website

Research
Publications

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Christopher Harvey, PhD

Professor of Neurobiology
Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School

Email: christopher_harvey@hms.harvard.edu
Website: Harvey Lab website – more information about Christopher Harvey’s research (opens in a new tab)

The Aim

The Harvey Lab studies how brain circuits guide navigation, memory, and decision‑making.

The Impact

Finding your way from point A to point B requires the brain to integrate memory, sensory information, and ongoing decisions in real time. The Harvey Lab uses virtual‑reality environments and advanced imaging tools to watch these computations unfold in living neural circuits, identifying the specific cell types and connection patterns that make them possible. Because working memory and navigation are impaired in Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, and traumatic brain injury, this research lays important groundwork for understanding what goes wrong in such conditions, and what interventions might be possible.

A Closer Look

MedicalXpress – February 2024: Mapping decision‑making circuits in the brain (article, opens in a new tab)

This article covers Harvey’s research, published in Nature, which maps the physical connections between decision‑making neurons. This study found that choosing to go left or right activates a chain of cells that ultimately suppresses the neural pathway for the alternative choice, a concrete synaptic mechanism behind how the brain commits to a decision.

ScienceDaily – July 2023: Error‑correction signals in a navigating brain (article, opens in a new tab)

The Harvey Lab placed mice in a virtual‑reality maze and identified a specific type of inhibitory neuron that fires precisely when an animal makes, and then corrects, a wrong turn. This marks the first time an error‑correction signal has been pinpointed in a navigating brain.

Publications View

Distinct timescales of population coding across cortex.

Authors: Authors: Runyan CA, Piasini E, Panzeri S, Harvey CD.
Nature 2017-08-03
View full abstract on Pubmed

Cracking the Neural Code for Sensory Perception by Combining Statistics, Intervention, and Behavior.

Authors: Authors: Panzeri S, Harvey CD, Piasini E, Latham PE, Fellin T.
Neuron 2017-02-08
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History-dependent variability in population dynamics during evidence accumulation in cortex.

Authors: Authors: Morcos AS, Harvey CD.
Nat Neurosci 2016-12-01
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Neuroscience: Virtual reality explored.

Authors: Authors: Minderer M, Harvey CD, Donato F, Moser EI.
Nature 2016-05-19
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Recurrent Network Models of Sequence Generation and Memory.

Authors: Authors: Rajan K, Harvey CD, Tank DW.
Neuron 2016-04-06
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Choice-specific sequences in parietal cortex during a virtual-navigation decision task.

Authors: Authors: Harvey CD, Coen P, Tank DW.
Nature 2012-03-14
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Functional imaging of hippocampal place cells at cellular resolution during virtual navigation.

Authors: Authors: Dombeck DA, Harvey CD, Tian L, Looger LL, Tank DW.
Nat Neurosci 2010-11-01
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Intracellular dynamics of hippocampal place cells during virtual navigation.

Authors: Authors: Harvey CD, Collman F, Dombeck DA, Tank DW.
Nature 2009-10-15
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A genetically encoded fluorescent sensor of ERK activity.

Authors: Authors: Harvey CD, Ehrhardt AG, Cellurale C, Zhong H, Yasuda R, Davis RJ, Svoboda K.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2008-12-09
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The spread of Ras activity triggered by activation of a single dendritic spine.

Authors: Authors: Harvey CD, Yasuda R, Zhong H, Svoboda K.
Science 2008-07-04
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