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Konstantin Bakhurin

Research Associate
Psychology & Neuroscience
GSRB II, Box 91050, Durham, NC 27708
GSRB II, Box 91050, Durham, NC 27708

Research Interests


I completed my doctoral research in Neuroscience at UCLA under Dr. Sotiris Masmanidis on large-scale population dynamics of striatal circuitry in behaving animals. Continued interest in how the brain generates movement during goal-directed actions led me to my current position in the laboratory of Dr. Henry Yin in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience.

My research projects combine circuit-level interrogation of the basal ganglia with continuous kinematic measures during goal-directed behavior.

I have extensive experience in neural in-vivo electrophysiological and calcium-based recording techniques, data analysis of behavioral and neural data, optogenetic circuit dissection, and in the development of novel behavioral tasks.

Selected Grants


Dissecting basal ganglia circuit mechanisms underlying instrumental learning

ResearchPostdoctoral Associate · Awarded by National Institute on Drug Abuse · 2022 - 2027

The Role of Opponent Basal Ganglia Outputs in Behavior

ResearchResearch Associate · Awarded by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke · 2017 - 2026

The role of parafascicular thalamic circuits in action generation

ResearchResearch Associate · Awarded by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke · 2021 - 2026

Dissecting Striatal Micro-circuits Underlying Goal Pursuit

ResearchPostdoctoral Associate · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2017 - 2022