Brian Goodell

Hello! I'm Brian, a programmer and maker currently building computational and physical tools for neuroscience research in the Flavell Lab at MIT. I come from academic backgrounds in Computer Science and Political Science, with no formal Neuro training, which reflects my philosophy of cross-disciplinary work and broad interest in learning. Outside the lab I'm usually running, dancing, or working on projects to make my life better.

  Why neuro?

Understanding how computational (living or silicon) systems use information to make decisions is a fascinating question, but ultimately intractable with most “intelligent” systems. So simplify the problem. C. elegans is a tiny nematode with 302 neurons; few enough that we can watch activity in every neuron across the whole brain as the animal moves freely, yet enough that it can perform complex, goal-directed navigation, among many other complex behaviors.
My work builds the tools to exploit this: a laser system controlling the temperature the worm experiences, and a real-time imaging pipeline capturing how its nervous system responds — providing an unusually clean window into how brains process information and make decisions.