Thomas Bessaih

Scientific biography

Trained as a biologist at École Normale Supérieure (Paris), I joined the Neuroscience graduate program at Sorbonne University (Paris). Under the supervision of Dr. Nathalie Leresche, I focused on the cellular mechanisms underlying normal and pathological thalamic activities. I continued my scientific training as a postdoctoral fellow with Pr. Diego Contreras at the University of Pennsylvania, where I examined information processing in cortical networks. I was appointed senior lecturer at Sorbonne University in 2012, where I developed optogenetic approaches, combined with in vivo electrophysiology, to understand how thalamocortical networks interact during sensory processing. In 2026, I joined the Institut de la Vision, where my work aims to shed light on the cellular mechanisms underlying changes in cognitive flexibility during aging.