Jo Scherrer develops neurotechnologies that both measure and precisely influence brain activity.
During their Ph.D. research, Scherrer created two complementary tools for understanding and shaping how neural circuits work. The first is a miniaturized implantable microscope that uses optical components inspired by smartphone cameras to record the activity of thousands of neurons at once in freely moving animals. The second is a brain-machine interface built with high-density silicon probes that delivers real-time neurofeedback based on electrical signals from the brain. Using this system, Scherrer demonstrated that the songbird basal ganglia can learn to activate individual cortical neurons at specific moments within a song, offering new insight into how motor learning may operate in similar circuits in humans. These technologies open pathways for highly targeted experiments that test precise circuit-level models of brain function.
They will continue their work as an inventor at a neurotechnology company.
Scherrer grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, making homemade rocket fuel and particle accelerators from parts on eBay. In high school, they were taken in by the Wikswo Lab at Vanderbilt University and assigned to a DARPA biodefense grant, where they learned how to be both an effective and a socially responsible scientist while co-authoring two patents and a first-author publication on microfluidics.
As an undergraduate at Princeton, Scherrer spent time in physics labs across various disciplines. They developed a new method for measuring very high energy levels of lithium atoms and contributed previously unmeasured spectroscopic data to the atomic physics community (paper in preparation). Additionally, they have conducted machine learning analyses of fruit fly behavioral data while building a deuterium fusion reactor for the physics teaching lab.
Outside the lab, Scherrer spends their free time on marksmanship, saltwater aquariums, and high-voltage projects.
