#TraineeTuesday: Aakash Basu

This #TraineeTuesday, we are excited to introduce Aakash Basu, a graduate student in the Kaye Lab! Aakash recently published a manuscript in Biological Psychiatry exploring the role of norepinephrine in the frontal cortex in encoding a threat prediction signal.

Aakash’s research aims to uncover the molecular mechanisms that support the threat prediction across various timescales. His recent publication proposes that the release of norepinephrine in the frontal cortex signals unexpected threats and plays a crucial role in learning to anticipate future threats. This finding parallels the well-established role of dopamine as a reward prediction error signal.

However, the study also reveals that norepinephrine release can only be accurately explained by reinforcement learning models that incorporate temporal uncertainty. In other words, norepinephrine not only signals threats but also encodes information about their timing. By applying a reinforcement learning framework to aversive learning, the study sheds light on the computational role of norepinephrine in predicting threats – an area that has received less attention compared to neuromodulators involved in appetitive learning. The Kaye Lab’s work contributes to a growing effort to identify neural signatures of reinforcement learning in aversive contexts.

For Aakash, the most important aspect of this research is applying a reinforcement learning framework to neural activity to define its functional role. While reinforcement learning is not a new approach — it has been highly successful in studying appetitive learning -- Aakash brings it into a new context by examining the role of norepinephrine in aversive learning. By integrating computational principles with neuroscience, his research offers a deeper understanding of how the brain processes and predicts aversive events.

Aakash has always been passionate about science, particularly the biological basis of emotions and mental experience. During college, somewhat by chance, he began conducting research in a lab focused on addiction and stress-related behaviors. There, he realized that fundamental questions about motivation and emotional states could be explored through basic neuroscience research.

At Yale, Aakash now studies the neurobiology of threat processing. What drew him to Yale was its “unique[ly]” supportive environment for research on the fundamental biology of motivated behavior — both in a basic science context and with implications for psychiatric disorders. So far, the highlight of his research experience has been learning and implementing new techniques, expanding his ability to investigate the brain’s mechanisms of threat and motivation.

Next, Aakash aims to investigate the biology of threat learning beyond norepinephrine, focusing on intracellular signaling molecules downstream of norepinephrine and their roles in shaping neural activity and behavior in response to threats.

His ultimate career goal is to become an independent principal investigator, dedicated to studying the neural mechanisms underlying motivated and affective behaviors. Through his research, he hopes to bridge fundamental neuroscience with broader questions about how the brain processes emotion and motivation.

Best of luck, Aakash!