Benjamin Auerbach is assistant professor in the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology and a full-time faculty member of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He received his Ph.D. in neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied synaptic plasticity in fragile X syndrome and related neurodevelopmental disorders in the lab of Mark Bear. He then did his postdoctoral training with Richard Salvi at the Center for Hearing and Deafness at the University at Buffalo, where he investigated the neural circuit mechanisms underlying auditory perceptual disorders associated with hearing loss.

The focus of the Auerbach lab is on understanding the mechanisms of sensory perception and experience-dependent plasticity, using the rodent auditory system as a tractable model to study how cortical and subcortical circuits process information, adapt to experience, and interact with each other to ultimately drive behavior. A variety of approaches are used to address these questions, including quantitative sensory behavior, in vivo multichannel electrophysiology, ex vivo neuroanatomy and physiology, as well as optogenetics and viral targeting of defined cell types. Beyond the advancement of basic insight into brain function, the goal of this research is to identify the pathophysiological mechanisms at the intersection of autism and auditory hypersensitivity disorders, with the hope of translating these findings into novel therapies and treatment strategies.