Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Training Program · University of Wisconsin–Madison
Principal investigator of the Mohebi Research Group, studying neuromodulatory mechanisms of cognition, learning, and decision-making.
Academic résumé
Ali Mohebi, PhD
An expanded record of my education, research training, publications, support, teaching, mentoring, service, recognition, and invited presentations.
Career
Education and training
Professional Researcher
Department of Neurology · University of California, San Francisco
- Mentors
- Josh Berke, Vikaas Sohal, and Vijay Namboodiri
- Main project
- Dopaminergic modulation of prefrontal cortex during working memory
- Methods
- Two-photon imaging and holographic stimulation, head-fixed mouse behavior, and Neuropixels recording
- Contributions
- First-authored work in Nature Neuroscience and multiple collaborative publications
Postdoctoral Scholar
Department of Neurology · University of California, San Francisco
- Mentor
- Josh Berke
- Main project
- Dopamine dynamics in learning and motivation
- Methods
- In vivo electrophysiology in freely moving rats, opto-tagging of dopamine neurons, and multicolor fiber photometry
- Contributions
- First-authored paper in Nature and collaborative work in Nature Methods
Postdoctoral Scholar
Department of Psychology · University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
- Mentor
- Josh Berke
- Main project
- Striatal microcircuits in reinforcement learning
- Methods
- Reinforcement-learning models, optogenetics, behavioral design, and low-cost custom instrumentation
PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Michigan State University
- Advisor
- Karim Oweiss
- Dissertation
- Neural mechanisms of action selection: implications for brain–machine interfaces
- Methods
- Neural signal processing, brain–machine-interface decoding, and silicon-probe recordings
- Contributions
- Publications in IEEE TNSRE, Journal of Neural Engineering, and JOVE; PhD dissertation
MSc, Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Tehran
- Mentor
- Hamid Soltanian-Zadeh
- Project
- Extraction of left-ventricular torsion using tagged magnetic-resonance imaging
- Methods
- Medical imaging, digital image processing, machine learning, and pattern recognition
BSc, Electrical Engineering
Sharif University of Technology
- Advisor
- Mehran Jahed
- Project
- Linear and nonlinear modeling of heart-rate variability using dynamical systems
- Methods
- Dynamical systems, modern control, digital signal processing, C++, and MATLAB
Scholarship
Selected publications
- 2025Mesolimbic dopamine ramps reflect environmental timescales.
Floeder JR, Jeong H, Mohebi A, & Namboodiri VMK. eLife 13, RP98666.
- 2025Reward expectation and receipt differentially modulate the spiking of accumbens D1+ and D2+ neurons.
Faust TW, Mohebi A, & Berke JD. Current Biology 35, 1285–1297.e3.
- 2024A mismatch between striatal cholinergic pauses and dopaminergic reward prediction errors.
Duhne M, Mohebi A, Kim K, Pelattini L, & Berke JD. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121, e2410828121.
- 2024Dopamine transients follow a striatal gradient of reward time horizons.
Mohebi A, Wei W, Pelattini L, Kim K, & Berke JD. Nature Neuroscience 27, 737–746.
- 2024Lights, fiber, action! A primer on in vivo fiber photometry.
Simpson EH, Akam T, Patriarchi T, et al. Neuron 112, 718–739.
- 2023Accumbens cholinergic interneurons dynamically promote dopamine release and enable motivation.
Mohebi A, Collins VL, & Berke JD. eLife 12, e85011.
- 2020An expanded palette of dopamine sensors for multiplex imaging in vivo.
Patriarchi T, Mohebi A, Sun J, et al. Nature Methods 17, 1147–1155.
- 2019Dissociable dopamine dynamics for learning and motivation.
Mohebi A, Pettibone JR, Hamid AA, et al. Nature 570, 65–70.
Funding
Research support
BRF Seed Grant Program
2026—2028Two Signals, One Memory: Dual Neuromodulator Control of Working Memory.
Principal Investigator: Ali Mohebi · Award BRFSG-2026-09 · Funding: $50,000 per year
BBRF Young Investigator Award
2026—2028Neural Signatures of Multi-timescale Reward Processing in the Prefrontal Cortex.
Principal Investigator: Ali Mohebi · Award 33161 · Funding: $35,000 per year
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Accelerator Award
2025Dopamine Clamp.
Principal Investigator: Ali Mohebi · Project total: $50,000
NIMH K01
2021—2024Dopaminergic modulation of prefrontal cortex during working memory.
Principal Investigator: Ali Mohebi · Annual direct cost: $177,842
NARSAD Young Investigator Award
2021—2023Nicotinic modulation of dopamine release in nucleus accumbens.
Principal Investigator: Ali Mohebi · Annual direct cost: $35,000
Kavli Foundation Seed Grant
2019A database of dopamine-cell recordings in freely moving rats.
Principal Investigators: Ali Mohebi and Josh Berke · Direct cost: $10,000
Instruction
Teaching
Psychology 707 · Bio Area Proseminar
2025—2026Graduate · Instructor of record, UW–Madison · Fall 2025, Spring 2026, and Fall 2026
Psychology 505 · Neurobiology of Learning and Decision-Making
2026Undergraduate · Instructor of record, UW–Madison · Spring 2026
Psychology 711 · Neurobiology of Learning and Decision-Making
2025Graduate · Instructor of record, UW–Madison · Spring 2025
Guest lectures
2025—2026UW–Madison: CS 839, Advanced Topics in Reinforcement Learning (Fall 2026); Psychology 621, Graduate Research Seminar, and Zoology 500, Undergraduate Neurobiology Seminar (Fall 2025 and Fall 2026).
Training
Mentoring
- Postdoctoral fellows and research scientists. Esther Lara-Gonzalez and Robert Spencer, Mohebi Lab, UW–Madison, 2024–present.
- Graduate training. Tianrui Yang, Psychology PhD student, 2026–present; Neuroscience Training Program rotation students Sam Faasen and Rachel Chen, 2025.
- Undergraduate researchers and staff. Mentoring across neurobiology, psychology, and data science, including undergraduate research and lab management training.
- Graduate thesis committees. Adam Labiosa and Jake Dengler (2026–present), Songyuan Tan and Jung Woo Hur (2025–present), UW–Madison; Alexander Benson, Drexel University (2025–present).
- Earlier mentoring. Research trainees at UCSF and the University of Michigan during postdoctoral and research training.
Community
Service
- Advisory Board Member, International Society for Monitoring Molecules in Neuroscience, 2026–present.
- Steering Committee Member, Neurobiology Major, UW–Madison, 2026–present.
- Member, New Personnel Committee, Department of Psychology, UW–Madison, 2025–present.
- Member, Neuroscience Training Program Admissions Committee, UW–Madison, 2024–present.
- Ad hoc reviewer for Nature, Science, Cell, Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, eLife, Cell Reports, eNeuro, COSYNE, Neural Networks, PLoS One, and Frontiers in Neuroscience.
- Co-organizer, Learning in Carbon and Silicon seminar series, Stanford University, 2022.
- Co-founder, NeuroLaunchpad, 2020.
- Co-founder, Virtual Dopamine Meeting (ViDA), 2020.
- Postdoctoral representative, search committee for the Dean for Postdoctoral Scholars, UCSF, 2019.
- Graduate-student representative, search committee for the Dean of the College of Engineering, Michigan State University, 2014.
- Graduate-student representative, Commencement Committee, Michigan State University, 2013–2014.
- Graduate-student representative, Instructional Computing and Technology Committee, Michigan State University, 2013–2014.
- Chair, Council of Graduate Students Constitution and Bylaws Committee, Michigan State University, 2013–2014.
Awards
Recognition
Psychiatry Trainee Research Award
2020University of California, San Francisco
Poster Award
2019Catecholamines Gordon Research Conference, Newry, Maine
Presentations
Invited talks
- Monitoring Molecules in Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Neuroscience, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
- Swedish Basal Ganglia Society (SWEABAGS), Virtual
- Department of Neuroscience, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Onna, Japan
- Gordon Research Conference: Basal Ganglia, Ventura, California
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Monitoring Molecules in Neuroscience, Lyon, France
- Winter Conference on Brain Research, Snowmass, Colorado
- Neuroscience Seminar, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California
- SPiNES Seminar, New York University, New York, New York
- Psychiatry Grand Rounds, UCSF, San Francisco, California
- Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, East Lansing, Michigan
- Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, Illinois
- Winter Conference on Brain Research, Snowmass, Colorado
- Gordon Research Conference: Basal Ganglia, Ventura, California
Last updated: October 2026.