Zayd Khaliq is a senior investigator at the NIH’s NINDS Intramural Research Program. He is a neuroscientist whose research focuses on the physiology and circuit connections formed by dopamine neurons of the substantia nigra. To probe these questions, he uses a combination of electrophysiology, imaging, optogenetics and histology to examine how neural information is integrated and transmitted to trigger behaviorally-relevant patterns of dopamine release. He is known for his work examining how excitatory, inhibitory, and modulatory inputs contribute to processing within dopamine neuron subpopulations through signaling in neuronal structures critical for motor learning circuits. He has contributed to our understanding of diversity of dopamine neuron subpopulations defined by their intrinsic firing properties and their expression of biochemical markers both in rodents and other species. Dr. Khaliq attended Dartmouth College and earned his PhD degree from Northwestern University. He completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School.