Joe Canzano

Biography

Joe grew up in Jacksonville Florida, where he earned a B.S. in biology with a minor in chemistry from the University of North Florida in 2015. Much of this time was spent toiling in research laboratories working on molecular biology and biochemistry projects at UNF and Mayo Clinic Jacksonville. After graduation he spent a gap year at the University of Florida studying the complex interplay between the pancreatic microvasculature, autonomic innervation, and diabetes in humans. Immediately before joining DYNS in 2019 he earned an M.S. in medical science from the University of Florida in a systems neuroscience lab using optical and electrophysiological methods in vivo to study cortical sensorimotor processing and peripheral neuromodulation of pancreatic vasomotor activity. At UCSB Joe joined the lab of Dr. Spencer Smith where he studies how visual information is encoded in cortical populations and processed among higher visual areas, as well as designing next-generation tools for performing optical systems neuroscience in behaving mice.

Research

Uncovering the higher visual areas, connectivity, and encoding principles supporting visual object recognition in mice performing an ethologically-relevant task in virtual reality.