Ryohei Yasuda, Ph.D.

Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience
Scientific Director

Dr. Yasuda received his Ph.D. in Physics from Keio University Graduate School of Science and Technology in Yokohama, Japan, on his study showing that the enzyme ATP synthase is a rotary motor made of single molecule and that its energy conversion efficiency is close to 100%. He completed his postdoc training with Dr. Karel Svoboda at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory where he built an imaging device to monitor protein interactions in living cells with high sensitivity and resolution. During his period as an assistant professor of Duke University Medical Center and an Early Career Scientist of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, he developed a number of biosensors to visualize signaling activity in single synapses. Dr. Yasuda is currently a Scientific Director at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience where his research is focused on understanding operation principles of signaling networks underlying synaptic plasticity, which ultimately gives rise to learning and memory.