Neural circuits of social behaviors

Short description

For many species, social behaviors constitute some of the most important interactions across a lifetime. Due to their complexity, social behaviors are hypothesized to have contributed to the complexity of the mammalian brain. Thus, social behaviors are also highly susceptible to disruptions in neuropsychiatric disease, including in social anxiety disorder, schizophrenia or autism spectrum disorder. The Kassraian Lab investigates the behavioral, neural, molecular, and circuit-level basis of social cognition and dysfunctions thereof in rodents, with close links to clinical research in humans. In particular, we investigate the contribution of the hippocampus for the memory of past social experiences as a means to inform current social behavior. 

Research focus

• One- and two-photon in vivo calcium imaging
• in vivo neurotransmitter imaging via GRAB sensors
• Opto- and chemogenetics
• Naturalistic social behavioral paradigms
• Behavioral tracking
• Computational modelling

Ongoing Projects

• Hippocampal circuits for the discrimination of social threat from social safety (SNSF)
• The hippocampal basis of social fear processing in schizophrenia (BBRF)
• Hippocampal circuits underlying the extinction of social fear (SNSF; NIMH to co-author)

Key publications

• Kassraian, P., Bigler, S. K., Gilly Suarez, D. M., Shrotri, N., Barnett, A., Lee, H. J., ... & Siegelbaum, S. A. (2024). The hippocampal CA2 region discriminates social threat from social safety. Nature neuroscience, 27(11), 2193-2206
• Kahan, A., Greenbaum, A., Jang, M. J., Robinson, J. E., Cho, J. R., Chen, X., Kassraian, P., Wagenaar,  D.A., & Gradinaru, V. (2021). Light-guided sectioning for precise in situ localization and tissue interface analysis for brain-implanted optical fibers and GRIN lenses. Cell reports, 36(13).
• Kassraian, P. & Siegelbaum, S.A. (2026). Hippocampal CA2-CA1 dynamics during social fear extinction (SfN Symposium, 2026).

Sources of Funding

• Swiss National Science Foundation
• Brain & Behaviour Research Foundation (BBRF)
• University of Bern, Faculty of Medicine