Maxime Maheu (he/him/his)
Postdoctoral Fellow
Maxime was initially trained as a cognitive neuroscientist. He relied on experimental cognitive psychology, computational modelling and neuroimaging in humans to unravel the neurocomputational foundations of complex cognitive functions. Motivated by the desire to more precisely address how cognitive computations are implemented in neural circuits, he then shifted to systems neuroscience, using genetic targetting, optical recording and manipulation methods in rodents.
Maxime is now using computational modeling to isolate cognitive principles that transcend over species, focusing in particular on core mechanisms of decision-making that are conserved in humans and rodents. Upon solving this cross-species puzzle, he will leverage neurobiological methods available in rodents to probe the neural mechanisms subtending decision-making that are otherwise beyond reach in humans: deciphering the role of deep neuromodulatory structures or resolving the neural code through recording of individual cells and their manipulations.
Outside the lab, Maxime enjoys travels, cinema, music, and photography.
Fun Facts
How did you get into science?
I was fascinated by astrophysics when I was a kid, although I did not know it was called this way at the time. The existence of celestial bodies and the distances separatating them simply used to blew my mind, that is still somehow the case. Later on, in high school, my interests shifted more towards philosophy, biology and informatics. I guess studying the mind was a good way of not having to choose between these topics.
What are your favorite lab tools?
What a nerdy question :) I believe that we can answer a lot of important pending questions in neuroscience by carefuly studying behavior alone. So I will go with the Bpod, a little electronic board which allows you to interface components and time events needed to run behavioural tasks in animals.
How do you commute to the lab?
By walking, happily! Let’s see if I feel the same when I’ll have to do it during freezing Boston winters…