Rate My Professor Arkarup Banerjee

Arkarup Banerjee is an Assistant Professor in the Neuroscience program at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), where he established his laboratory in 2020. He obtained his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the CSHL School of Biological Sciences in 2016, an M.Sc. in Biophysics from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai in 2010, and a B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Calcutta in 2008. Before joining the CSHL faculty, Banerjee served as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Michael Long at New York University Langone Medical Center, where he investigated motor cortical control of vocal behaviors in singing mice. He was also selected as a Junior Fellow at the Simons Foundation Society of Fellows in 2017.

The research in Banerjee's laboratory uses Alston's singing mice, which produce complex vocalizations resembling conversational turn-taking, to uncover the neural circuits that enable mammalian vocal communication. The lab examines the sensorimotor loops formed by interactions between auditory and motor systems during vocal production and the evolutionary modifications in neural circuitry that give rise to behavioral innovations. Key publications from his work include 'Motor cortical control of vocal interaction in neotropical singing mice' (Science, 2019), 'Temporal scaling of motor cortical dynamics reveals hierarchical control of vocal production' (Nature Neuroscience, 2024), 'Using focal cooling to link neural dynamics and behavior' (Neuron, 2021), and 'Selective expansion of motor cortical projections in the evolution of vocal novelty' (bioRxiv, 2024). Banerjee has earned several distinguished early-career awards, including the 2025 McKnight Scholar Award, 2025 National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellowship, 2022 Searle Scholar Award, and 2023–2026 Klingenstein-Simons Neuroscience Fellowship. His studies provide insights into brain functions supporting social communication and related neurological conditions such as aphasia.