Dr. Sarthak Chandra uses mathematics and physics to decode how the brain organizes thought. His research explains how structure and function emerge together in neural circuits, how a developing brain builds internal maps of space and experience, and how those patterns enable learning and memory. Working at the intersection of theoretical neuroscience, nonlinear dynamics, and machine learning, he uncovers principles by which networks, natural or artificial, learn to compute.

By treating the brain as a dynamical system, Dr. Chandra looks for simple, universal rules for how we learn and remember. His work on grid cells, the brain’s built-in GPS, showed how just a few basic developmental principles can give rise to the brain’s striking modular structure. His 2025 Nature papers showed how these grid-cell modules form in the first place and how modular circuits prevent catastrophic forgetting — ideas now inspiring new approaches in AI.

Returning from MIT,  Dr. Chandra brings theoretical tools that connect neuroscience to with diverse fields including complex systems, nonlinear dynamics, statistical physics, and topology. At the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) in Bangalore, Dr. Chandra is establishing a research group that blends theory, computation, and neuroscience as part of a new generation of Indian scientists linking physics with the biology of cognition. 

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