Principal Investigator | michaelyartsevlab

Michael completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Biomedical engineering at the Ben-Gurion University in 2007, and received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the Weizmann institute in the laboratory of Nachum Ulanovsky. He was subsequently a C.V. Starr fellow in neuroscience in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute where he completed a post-doc in the laboratory of Carlos Brody. He is an HHMI Investigator and an Associate Professor at UC Berkeley with a joint appointment in the departments of Bioengineering and Neuroscience. Research in his laboratory utilizes the bat as model system to study the neural mechanisms of complex spatial, social and acoustic behaviors, with focus on the neural computations underlying spatial navigation, group sociality and vocal communication/learning.

Awards and Honors

2024 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator

2024 Boehringer Ingelheim FENS Research Award

2022 Young Investigator Award, Society of Neuroscience

2022 Peter Gruss Young Investigator Award

2022 Cajal Club Cortical Explorer Award

2022 AAA Early - Career Investigator Award - C. J. Herrick Award in Neuroanatomy

2021 Early Career Award, Society of Social Neuroscience

2020 Vallee Foundation Scholar Award

2020 Bakar Faculty Fellow Award

2020 Brain Science Technology "Rising Star Award",

Mahoney Institute of Neuroscience (MINS), UPenn

2020 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award

2019 Janett Rosenberg Trubatch Award from the

Society of Neuroscience
2017 Packard Fellowship
2017 Air Force Office of Scientific Research

2017 Brain Research Foundation
2017 McKnight Scholar Award
2017 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow
2017 NYSCF-Robertson Investigator Award
2016 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (DP2)

2016 NIMH Biobehavioral Research Award for Innovative

New Scientists (BRAINS) – Declined

2016 Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship Award in the Neurosciences

2016 Pew Scholar Award
2016 Searle Scholar Award
2016 Human Frontiers Research Grant

2015 David Mahoney Neuroimaging program - Dana Foundation

2015 The Brain Initiative EAGER award from the National Science Foundation

2015 Allen Brain Institute Next Generation Leaders Program

2015 The Raymond Sackler fund for convergence research

2015 Konishi Neuroethology Research Award, International Society of Neuroethology

2014 Sieratzki Prize for Advances in Neuroscience

2014 ISEF International Post-Doctoral Fellowship

2013 Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology – Grand Prize Winner

2013 Donald B. Lindsley prize in Behavioral Neuroscience, Society of Neuroscience

2013 ISEF Lily Safra Award for Scientific Research.
2013 The John F. Kennedy PhD Distinction Award
2013 ISEF International Post-Doctoral Fellowship
2012 ELSC Brain Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship
2012 Young Investigator Award, International Society of Neuroethology

2012 Capranica Prize, International Society of Neuroethology

2012 ISEF International Post-Doctoral Fellowship

2012 CV Starr Fellowship, Princeton University

2012 FENS/IBRO travel grant award. FENS-forum, Barcelona, Spain

2012 Katzir Foundation travel award

2011 Best Poster award at the ISFN (Israeli Society of Neuroscience) annual meeting

2010 National institute for Psychobiology travel award

2010 Best Poster award Janelia Farm conference on “Bottom-up and Top-down Approaches to Understanding Circuits Processing: Meeting in the Middle”.

2010 FENS/IBRO travel grant award. FENS-forum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2010 Otto Schwartz academic excellence award
2009 Lev-Zion Excellence predoctoral fellowship
2009 Otto Schwartz academic excellence award
2008 M.Sc degree with distinguished excellence (summa cum laude)

2008 Academic excellence award from the ISEF foundation

2007 Kreitman foundation fellowship for PhD studies - declined due to moving to Weizmann institute

2007 Zlotowski center for neuroscience travel award

2007 Best Poster award at the third international computational motor control workshop

2007 B.Sc degree with distinguished excellence (magna cum laude)

2006 Academic excellence award from the ISEF foundation

2004 Academic excellence award from the department of Industrial Engineering

2004 Bank Hapoalim academic excellence award

2004 The Ben-Gurion University student body award for voluntary excellence.