Dr. Debajit Saha is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Saha joined MSU in 2019 Fall after pursuing his doctoral and postdoctoral training at Washington University in St. Louis. Previously, Dr. Saha received his master’s degree from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and bachelor’s degree in Physics from Jadavpur University, India.
Dr. Saha’s work encompasses systems neuroscience and neural engineering. His previous works on identifying neural rules of learning and decision making in olfactory sensory system have been published in several high-impact journals (Saha et al. Nature Neuroscience 2013, Nature Communications 2015, 2017). Dr. Saha is also working on developing Insect Brain-Based chemical sensors for medical, environmental and public safety applications.
The laboratory of ‘Bioengineering of Olfactory Sensory Systems’ (BOSS) led by Dr. Saha is working on developing neural engineering and brain-computer interface (BCI) techniques to address how population neuron responses shape associative learning, social behavior, and decision-making in real time. Dr. Saha is applying the brain-behavior connectivity knowledge towards biosensing in natural environments.
The BOSS laboratory is also working on developing insect brain-based, bio-robots that hijack biological chemical sensing and information processing capabilities towards medical and environmental applications (forward engineering). Dr. Saha is using insect antenna as chemical sensors and odor-evoked electrical activity in the brain (i.e. neural codes) for targeted chemical detection and identification. BOSS laboratory is working with honeybees and locusts to develop insect brain-based chemical sensors.
Dr. Saha’s other interests include nano-neuroscience approaches for noninvasive control of neural responses in the brain and identifying nanoparticle transport and nano-neuro interaction mechanisms in the olfactory sensory pathway.
