Eve Marder, PhD

“There’s something very profound in knowing that there are secrets of the universe and secrets of life that animals know and that it’s our job to find out.”

Eve Marder is a University Professor and the Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Biology at Brandeis University. Her research on the modulation of neural networks in lobsters and crabs has uncovered novel insights into the fundamental processes of animal and human brains.

From her studies of the lobster stomatogastric ganglion (STG), Marder discovered that neuromodulators could reconfigure the ganglion activity into new patterns and helped pioneer the dynamic clamp, a tool for performing complex but realistic manipulations on living neurons. Her research has revolutionized the field of neuronal circuits.

Described as a “heroine of neuroscience,” Marder is the recipient of the Carnegie Prize in Mind and Brain Science, the NAS Award in the Neurosciences, and the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Marder is also a current member of the National Institutes of Health working group for the BRAIN Initiative and the former President of the Society for Neuroscience.

She earned her B.A. in biology from Brandeis University, where she established one of the first undergraduate neuroscience programs in the U.S., and her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego, where she began studying the lobster STG. Marder completed her postdoctoral work at the University of Oregon and the École Normale Supérieure before returning to Brandeis University as a faculty member.