Ipshita Zutshi, MD

Ipshita Zutshi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology.

Her research investigates how the brain supports cognitive abilities such as planning, decision making, and memory in the context of spatial navigation and goal-directed behavior. She studies how neural circuits in the hippocampal formation interact with the cortex to transform environmental inputs into internal signals in line with an animal’s current goals and actions. She is particularly interested in how coordination across regions is governed by oscillations, synaptic plasticity, and neuromodulatory inputs, and how disruptions in these dynamics contribute to neuropsychiatric disorders.

Her research integrates large-scale in vivo electrophysiology, imaging, computational analyses, freely moving rodent behavior, and temporally precise circuit perturbations using optogenetics and chemogenetics. Dr. Zutshi is currently funded by a Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain Fellows to Faculty Award, and her past work has been supported by an HHMI International Student Research Fellowship and the Leon Levy Fellowship in Neuroscience.

For a complete description of her research program, please visit her lab webpage.

Current funding: Simons Foundation

Education:

• Postdoctoral Fellow, New York University School of Medicine (2019–2026)
• Ph.D., Biology, University of California, San Diego (2013–2019)
• B.E./M.Sc., Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India (2008–2013)

Selected Publications:

1. I. Zutshi, A. Apostolelli, W. Yang, Z. Zheng, T. Dohi, E. Balzani, A.H. Williams, C. Savin, G. Buzsáki. Hippocampal neuronal activity is aligned with action plans. Nature, 2025.
2. I. Zutshi, G. Buzsáki. Hippocampal sharp wave ripples and their spike assembly content are regulated by the medial entorhinal cortex. Current Biology, 2023.
3. I. Zutshi, M. Valero, A. Fernández-Ruiz, G. Buzsáki. Extrinsic control and intrinsic computation in the hippocampal CA1 circuit. Neuron, 2022.
4. C.R. Quirk*, I. Zutshi*, S. Srikanth, M.K. Wright, D.P. Parsey, M.L. Fu, N.D. Marciano, S. Liu, J.K. Leutgeb, S. Leutgeb. Precisely timed theta oscillations are selectively required during memory encoding. Nature Neuroscience, 2021. Equal contribution
5. I. Zutshi*, M.P. Brandon*, M.L. Fu, M. Donegan, J.K. Leutgeb, S. Leutgeb. Hippocampal neural circuits respond to optogenetic pacing of theta frequencies by generating accelerated oscillation frequencies. Current Biology, 2018. Equal contribution
6. I. Zutshi, M.L. Fu, V. Lilascharoen, J.K. Leutgeb, B.K. Lim, S. Leutgeb. Recurrent circuits within medial entorhinal cortex superficial layers support grid cell firing. Nature Communications, 2018.