The synaptic connectivity of neurons, their connectome, is fundamental to how networks of neurons function. Sven Dorkenwald develops computational and collaborative tools to map, analyze, and interpret synapse-resolution connectomes. His work has led to large connectomic reconstructions of the fruit fly brain and parts of mammalian brains. He uses these connectomes to investigate how neuronal circuits are organized and how their structure supports complex computations.
Biography
Dorkenwald earned a BS in physics and an MS in computer engineering from the University of Heidelberg, followed by a PhD in computer science and neuroscience at Princeton University in 2023 under the mentorship of Sebastian Seung and Mala Murthy. During his doctoral work, he was also a visiting scientist at the Allen Institute and a student researcher at Google Research. Dorkenwald completed his postdoctoral training as a Shanahan Research Fellow at the Allen Institute and the University of Washington, while serving as a Visiting Faculty Researcher at Google Research. In January 2026, he became an assistant professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and an investigator at the McGovern Institute.
Honors and Awards
2025 – STAT Wunderkind, STAT News
2024 – Larry Katz Memorial Lecture, Cold Spring Harbor Meeting on Neuronal Circuits
The McGovern Institute and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences are pleased to announce the appointment of Sven Dorkenwald as an assistant professor starting in January 2026.
Neuronal wiring diagram of an adult brain. Dorkenwald S, Matsliah A, Sterling AR, Schlegel P, Yu S, McKellar CE, Lin A, Costa M, Eichler K, Yin Y, Silversmith W, Schneider-Mizell C, Jordan CS, Brittain D, Halageri A, Kuehner K, Ogedengbe O, Morey R, Gager J, Kruk K, Perlman E, Yang R, Deutsch D, Bland D, Sorek M, Lu R, Macrina T, Lee K, Bae JA, Mu S, Nehoran B, Mitchell E, Popovych S, Wu J, Jia Z, Castro MA, Kemnitz N, Ih D, Bates AS, Eckstein N, Funke J, Collman F, Bock DD, Jefferis GSXE, Seung HS, Murthy M, The FlyWire Consortium. (2024). Nature. 634, 124–138.
Binary and analog variation of synapses between cortical pyramidal neurons. Dorkenwald S, Turner NL, Macrina T, Lee K, Lu R, Wu J, Bodor AL, Bleckert AA, Brittain D, Kemnitz N, Silversmith WM, Ih D, Zung J, Zlateski A, Tartavull I, Yu S, Popovych S, Wong W, Castro M, Jordan CS, Wilson AM, Froudarakis E, Buchanan J, Takeno MM, Torres R, Mahalingam G, Collman F, Schneider-Mizell CM, Bumbarger DJ, Li Y, Becker L, Suckow S, Reimer J, Tolias AS, Macarico da Costa N, Reid RC, Seung HS. (2022). eLife.
Bates, AS, Phelps, JS, Kim, M, Yang, HH, Matsliah, A, Ajabi, Z et al.. Distributed control circuits across a brain-and-cord connectome. bioRxiv. 2025; :. doi: 10.1101/2025.07.31.667571. PubMed PMID:40766407 PubMed Central PMC12324551.
Bodor, AL, Schneider-Mizell, CM, Zhang, C, Elabbady, L, Mallen, A, Bergeson, A et al.. The synaptic architecture of layer 5 thick tufted excitatory neurons in mouse visual cortex. Nat Neurosci. 2025;28 (8):1704-1715. doi: 10.1038/s41593-025-02004-2. PubMed PMID:40721677 PubMed Central PMC12321573.
Deutsch, D, Matsliah, A, Wang, K, Dorkenwald, S, Mondal, A, Burke, A et al.. Sexually-dimorphic neurons in the Drosophila whole-brain connectome. Res Sq. 2025; :. doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6881911/v1. PubMed PMID:40678250 PubMed Central PMC12270219.
