World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

D-Index & Metrics

Neuroscience

D-Index
37
Citations
7826
World Ranking
8702
National Ranking
3691

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2016 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 2012 - W. Alden Spencer Award, College of Physicians and Surgeons
  • 2003 - Fellow of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Overview

Michael S. Brainard is affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco in the United States. Their research primarily focuses on areas within Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Agricultural and Biological Sciences, and Environmental Science. They have contributed extensively to Developmental Biology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Molecular Biology.

The main topics covered in their work include:

  • Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
  • Animal Behavior and Reproduction
  • Marine animal studies overview
  • Avian ecology and behavior
  • Plant and animal studies
  • Neuroscience and Music Perception
  • Neural dynamics and brain function

Michael S. Brainard has published research in several notable venues. Frequent publication venues include:

  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
  • eLife
  • Science
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library)

Recent papers authored or co-authored by Brainard include:

  • "Cellular transcriptomics reveals evolutionary identities of songbird vocal circuits," 2021, Science
  • "Songbirds can learn flexible contextual control over syllable sequencing," 2021, eLife
  • "Acetylcholine acts on songbird premotor circuitry to invigorate vocal output," 2020, eLife
  • "Shared mechanisms of auditory and non-auditory vocal learning in the songbird brain," 2022, eLife
  • "Lesions in a songbird vocal circuit increase variability in song syntax," 2024, eLife

The scientist regularly collaborates with a group of frequent co-authors, notably including:

  • Lena Veit
  • Bradley M. Colquitt
  • Lucas Y Tian
  • Timothy L. Warren
  • Christian Monroy Hernandez

Michael S. Brainard's contributions have received recognition in various forms. They were named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016. In 2012, they received the W. Alden Spencer Award from the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Earlier in their career, they were named a Fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in 2003.

Best Publications

  • What songbirds teach us about learning

    Michael S. Brainard;Allison J. Doupe

  • Contributions of an avian basal ganglia–forebrain circuit to real-time modulation of song

    Mimi H. Kao;Allison J. Doupe;Michael S. Brainard

  • Interruption of a basal ganglia-forebrain circuit prevents plasticity of learned vocalizations.

    Michael S. Brainard;Allison J. Doupe

  • Performance variability enables adaptive plasticity of 'crystallized' adult birdsong.

    Evren C. Tumer;Michael S. Brainard

  • Auditory feedback in learning and maintenance of vocal behaviour

    Michael S. Brainard;Allison J. Doupe

  • High-Density, Long-Lasting, and Multi-region Electrophysiological Recordings Using Polymer Electrode Arrays.

    Jason E. Chung;Hannah R. Joo;Jiang Lan Fan;Daniel F. Liu

  • Lesions of an avian basal ganglia circuit prevent context-dependent changes to song variability.

    Mimi H. Kao;Michael S. Brainard

  • Visual instruction of the neural map of auditory space in the developing optic tectum

    Eric I. Knudsen;Michael S. Brainard

  • Translating Birdsong: Songbirds as a Model for Basic and Applied Medical Research

    Michael S. Brainard;Allison J. Doupe

  • Experience-dependent plasticity in the inferior colliculus: a site for visual calibration of the neural representation of auditory space in the barn owl

    Brainard;EI Knudsen

  • Sensitive Periods for Visual Calibration of the Auditory Space Map in the Barn Owl Optic Tectum

    Michael S. Brainard;Eric I. Knudsen

  • CREATING A UNIFIED REPRESENTATION OF VISUAL AND AUDITORY SPACE IN THE BRAIN

    E. I. Knudsen;M. S. Brainard

  • Central Contributions to Acoustic Variation in Birdsong

    Samuel J. Sober;Melville J. Wohlgemuth;Michael S. Brainard

  • Adult birdsong is actively maintained by error correction.

    Samuel J Sober;Michael S Brainard

  • Covert skill learning in a cortical-basal ganglia circuit

    Jonathan D. Charlesworth;Timothy L. Warren;Michael S. Brainard

  • Postlearning Consolidation of Birdsong: Stabilizing Effects of Age and Anterior Forebrain Lesions

    Michael S. Brainard;Allison J. Doupe

  • Mechanisms and time course of vocal learning and consolidation in the adult songbird

    Timothy L. Warren;Evren C. Tumer;Jonathan D. Charlesworth;Michael S. Brainard

  • Cellular transcriptomics reveals evolutionary identities of songbird vocal circuits

    Bradley M. Colquitt;Bradley M. Colquitt;Devin P. Merullo;Genevieve Konopka;Todd F. Roberts

  • Neural derivation of sound source location: resolution of spatial ambiguities in binaural cues.

    Michael S. Brainard;Eric I. Knudsen;Steven D. Esterly

  • Real-Time Contributions of Auditory Feedback to Avian Vocal Motor Control

    Jon T Sakata;Michael S Brainard

Frequent Co-Authors

Allison J. Doupe
Allison J. Doupe University of California, San Francisco
Eric I. Knudsen
Eric I. Knudsen Stanford University
Loren M. Frank
Loren M. Frank University of California, San Francisco
Richard H. R. Hahnloser
Richard H. R. Hahnloser University of Zurich
W. Tecumseh Fitch
W. Tecumseh Fitch University of Vienna
Daniel E. Feldman
Daniel E. Feldman University of California, Berkeley

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