Dr. Hasan Mohammad
Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences

Email hasan(AT)iisermohali.ac.in
Phone -
Fax -
Personal Page My Webpage                                          
Research Area
Neural circuits and Behavior
Research Focus

Animals learn from their experiences and modify their actions to survive. These experiences are encoded in brain circuits, which provide an adaptive behavioral response. Our group studies the brain circuit mechanisms that underpin adaptive behavioral phenotypes developed in response to external stimuli. Acute and chronic exposure to external stimuli might have distinct effects on brain circuits. While acute exposure may be adaptive, chronic exposure can result in brain-wide neural adaptation, which may create maladaptive behaviors. Our research will use natural rewards and drugs to study how acute and chronic exposure to both affects brain circuits. We believe there is a significant overlap and divergence between how natural rewards and drugs affect the brain. Our research intends to identify the important brain circuits that have been altered, and we intend to use advanced neuromodulation technologies in mice, such as chemo/optogenetics, to investigate the role of specific neural circuits. By comparing natural rewards and drugs, we aim to decode the brain processes that drives addictive consumption of food and drugs. To investigate these neural systems, we use viral tracing techniques, in-vivo calcium imaging, transcriptomics, and computational modeling.

Selected Publications
  • Senol  E, Mohammad H (2024). Current perspectives on brain circuits involved in food addiction-like behaviors. J Neural Transm , https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-023-02732-4
  • Mohammad H*§, Senol E*, Graf M, Lee CY, Li Q, Liu Q, Yeo XY, Wang M, Laskaratos A, Xu F, Luo SX, Jung S, Augustine GJ, Fu Y.§. (2021) A neural circuit for excessive feeding driven by environmental context. Nature Neuroscience, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-021-00875-9 .
  • Mandino F, Yeow LY, Bi R, Sejin L, Bae HG, Baek SH, Lee C, Mohammad H, Teoh CL, Lee JH, Lai MKP, Jung S, Fu Y, Olivo M, Gigg J, Grandjean J. (2022) The lateral entorhinal cortex is a hub for local and global dysfunction in pre-tauopathy states. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 42(9): 1616–1631 doi: 10.1177/0271678X221082016.
  • Phua SC§, Tan YL§, Senol E, Lee CY, Chiam JHC, Peng Y, Mohammad H, Lim JX, Fu Y.§. (2021) A distinct parabrachial to lateral    hypothalamus circuit for motivational suppression of feeding by nociception. Science Advances, 7(19):eabe4323. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abe4323.
  • Komulainen E, Varidaki A, Kulesskaya N, Mohammad H, Sourander C, Rauvala H, Coffey ET. (2020) Impact of JNK and Its Substrates on Dendritic Spine Morphology. Cells , 9, 440.
  • Luo SX*, Huang J*, Li Q*, Mohammad H, Lee CY, Krishna K, Kok AM, Tan YL, Lim JY, Li H, Yeow LY, Sun J, He M, Grandjean J, Sajikumar S, Han W, Fu Y. (2018) Regulation of feeding by somatostatin neurons in the tuberal nucleus. Science, 361(6397):76-81.
  • Mohammad H*, Marchisella F*, Ortega-Martinez S*, Hollos P, Eerola K, Komulainen E, Kulesskaya N, Savontaus E, Rauvala H, Peterson B, van Praag H, and Coffey ET (2016). JNK1 controls adult hippocampal neurogenesis and imposes cell autonomous control of anxiety behaviour from the neurogenic niche. Molecular Psychiatry  23, 362-374.
  • Komulainen E, Zdrojewska J, Freemantle E, Mohammad H, Kulesskaya N, Deshpande P,         Marchisella F, Mysore R, Hollos P, Michelsen KA, Mågard M, Rauvala H, James P and Coffey ET. JNK1 controls dendritic field size in L2/3 and L5 of the motor cortex, constrains soma size, and influences fine motor coordination. Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 2014; 8: 272
  • Björkblom B*, Padzik A*, Mohammad H, Westerlund N, Parvianen L, Papageorgiou T, Iljin K,   Kallioniemi O, Kallajoki M, Courtney M, and Coffey E. c-Jun N-terminal kinase phosphorylates MARCKSL1 determines actin stability and migration in neurons and cancer cells. Mol. Cell. Biol. 2012, 32(17)
  • Bhardwaj J*, Mohammad H*, Yadav SK. Computational identification of microRNAs and their  targets from the expressed sequence tags of horsegram (Macrotyloma uniflorum (Lam.)  Verdc.). J. Struct. Funct Genomics. 2010 Dec;11(4):233-40.
  • Varidaki A, Mohammad H, Coffey ET (2016) Chapter 5 - Molecular Mechanism of Depression.    Systems Neuroscience in Depression 1st edition Elsevier, 143-178
  • Mohanpuria P, Kumar V, Mahajan M, Mohammad H and Yadav SK (2010). Gene silencing: theory, techniques and applications. Inter. J. Med. Biol. Front. 17: (4/5), ISSN: 1081-3829