Najafi Laboratory

Systems, Behavioral & Computational Neuroscience

Welcome to the Najafi Laboratory at Georgia Tech!

Our lab explores major questions in systems and behavioral neuroscience by using advanced experimental and computational approaches.

We use rodent behavior, combined with neurophysiological and computational techniques to study the neocortical and cerebellar mechanisms that underlie behavior and learning.

Our goal is to translate the findings into the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Read more about our research here --> Research

You can find Dr. Najafi's CV here --> CV

We are looking to recruit graduate students, and post-docs with experience or interest in animal behavior, neural recordings, and computational approaches --> Join

Scroll down to check our lab photos!

Sybeco: Journal club on Systems, Behavioral, and Computational Neuroscience

We organize Sybeco, a unique journal club presented by the authors themselves!

Presenters are always trainees (lead authors). This is to recognize their work and help with networking.
It is virtual and open to all.
Sybeco schedule: Sybeco (Systems, Behavioral, and Computational Neuroscience) Journal Club - Google Docs
Sybeco youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@najafilab

Oct 2026

Picnic and "Aash" eating party with the lab :)

(Aash is a Persian vegetable noodle soup. It tastes fabulous :) ).

Jul 2026

Celebrating our lab's very first paper being accepted in Science Advances. (Huang et al, 2026)

Jun 2026

Sushi, Gyoza, and cheese making party with the lab :)

Apr 2026

Very honored to be recognized by Georgia Tech for the "Junior Faculty Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award".

Apr 2026

Lab outing at the beautiful German town in Georgia.

Back; from left: Simone, Arya, Mengze, Tim, Farzaneh, Davis, Vicky, Sam, Lucy, Zahra, Mohammad

Front; from left: Yicong, Lia

Helen, GA

Mar 2026

Proud of Ali for attending and presenting at his 1st neuroscience conference.

Cosyne 2026; Lisbon, Portugal.

Nov 2025

Lab Thanksgiving party.

From left: me, Mengze, Yicong, Mohammad, Lea, Zahra, Simone, Serena, Tim, Davis

Nov 2025

SFN 2025 with the lab!

Sep 2025

Celebrating the 1st publication from our lab, led by Yicong (Huang et al, bioRxiv 2025).

From left: me, Sophie, Sana, Zahra, Isabella, Vicky, Tim, Anjali, Davis, Mengze, Yicong, Jun

Sep 2025

Our 1st professional/personal growth session.

From left: Davis, Jun, Vicky (Jiahe), Mengze, Yicong, Tim, Arya, Farzaneh, Sana, Sophie, Anjali

Sep 2025

Proud of our master's students, Mengze and Zahra, doing 2-photon imaging from mice during motor behavior!

From left: Mengze, Zahra

Sep 2025

Saying goodbye to Hosala! our master's student, who is now starting a position at EpiPaws.
Hosala helped the lab tremendously by training mice on our joystick paradigm, in its early stages. We wish her the best in her new career!

From left: Farzaneh, Hosala

Aug 2025

Trivia Night! Team Najafia Mafia!!

From left:

Top: Zahra, Rhys, Farzaneh, Yicong, Mengze, Jun

Bottom: Davis, Tim, Sana, Arya, Viki

Aug 2025

Proud of our masters students, Mengze and Zahra, and our PhD student, Sana, presenting their work at the Bioinformatics poster session.

From left: Zahra, Sana, Mengze

Aug 2025

Farzaneh at Research Leadership Academy

Georgia Tech

Apr 2025

Lab outing, Piedmont park & botanical garden, Atlanta

From left: Zahra, Sophie, Sana, Tim, Mengze, Shuang, Yicong, Farzaneh

From left: Zahra, Farzaneh, Shuang, Mengze, Tim, Yicong, Simone

Apr 2025

A surprise [late] birthday for me by my kind lab members :)

From left: Farzaneh, Sophie, Sana, Tim, Zahra & Lia, Markella, Shuang, Mengze, Yicong

Jan 2025

Tim and Sana's birthday!
From left: Yicong, Mengze, Shuang, Sophie, Sana, Tim, Farzaneh, Dan, Zahra, Markella

Dec 2024

Proud of our amazing lab members!
From left: Farzaneh, Yicong, Sana, Sophie, Dan, Esha, Zahra
Back: Tim, Yitian, Mengze

Nov 2024

Lab cabin trip; Lake Hartwell, GA
From left:
Sophie, Zahra, Yicong, Simone, Farzaneh, Tim, Sana, Dan

Jul 2024

Lab party in our house!
Lab members:
Siya, Zahra, Tim, Misha, Laurence, Yuvraj, Dan, Yicong, Hosala

Apr 2024

Lab hike and grill (and beach)!
Left to right: Yunkai, Yicong, Tim, Hosala, Farzaneh

Nov 2023

First get-together in our house!

Oct 2023

GT Neuro Launch.

Our lab's first poster presented by Tim, Yicong, Stella, and Reagan!

Sep 2023

Vanshika's last day! She did a great job with ordering a million items for the lab and setting up the lab with from day 0 with me. We wish her the best in her future job!