Jordan Hamm, Ph.D.

Dr. Jordan Hamm’s research aims to advance basic understanding of brain systems that support perception and cognition, toward the long-term goal of identifying new avenues for treating neuropsychiatric disorders. His lab specifically studies how spatial, temporal, and/or behavioral context influences sensory processing in the mammalian neocortex. This function enables the rapid detection of behaviorally relevant changes in the sensory milieu and, importantly, is altered in major psychiatric diseases like schizophrenia, as quantified by electroencephalographic (EEG) biomarkers like “mismatch negativity” (MMN).

Ongoing projects in the Hamm lab involve 1) a deep dive into the role of neocortical neuron subtypes and feed-back circuits in supporting context processing and MMN, 2) a study of how these cells/circuits develop across adolescence, 3) an interrogation into a role for microglia-neuron interactions in shaping this circuit development, and 4) an exploration of how psychedelic compounds may alter feed-back circuitry to reshape perception and, ultimately, pathological beliefs.

Dr. Hamm earned his Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of Georgia in 2014 under the mentorship of Dr. Brett Clementz. There he studied human populations with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, carrying out electro/magnetoencephalography (E/MEG) and multivariate analyses of large multimodal datasets (MRI, EEG, genetics, behavior). He sought out a postdoctoral position in Rafael Yuste’s laboratory at Columbia University, where he transitioned to studying cortical function with cellular precision in awake mice. In 2018, Dr. Hamm started as an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience Georgia State University, and in 2024 he was promoted to Associate Professor. In October 2024, he joined the Emotional Brain Institute at NKI, where he also is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Dr. Hamm has mentored five Ph.D. students and two postdoctoral scientists. He has published 36 peer-reviewed papers, including 19 as first or senior author, in journals including Neuron, Biological Psychiatry, Cell Reports, and Current Biology. He is PI on two active NIH R01s from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Eye Institute.

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=rXbR2jAAAAAJ&hl=en