Dr. Hananel Hazan is an interdisciplinary computer scientist. He joined Dr. Michael Levin’s lab at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University in 2019. His primary research interest lies in understanding how biological cells interact and cooperate to achieve shared goals through modeling. He employs machine learning, neural networks, and data science methodologies to unravel the adaptive learning processes cells undergo to accomplish shared tasks.
Apart from his extensive work on cellular interactions, Dr. Hazan's research endeavors encompass understanding the remarkable computational capabilities of cell clusters, shedding light on how they engage with their surroundings and adapt to novel situations.
Prior to joining Tufts University, Dr. Hazan worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Network Biology Research Laboratories at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. He pioneered a novel experimental platform for closed-loop interactions with a cortical neuronal network that enabled him to analyze activity of this network in real-time using machine learning techniques. Furthermore, as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Dr. Hazan focused on bioinspired machine learning and spearheaded the innovative BindsNET project – a state-of-the-art framework designed for rapid constructions of rich simulations of spiking networks.
Through his research, Dr. Hazan aspires to unlock profound insights into the computational properties of biological systems, paving the way for the development of advanced machine learning algorithms.
