Model-guided microstimulation steers primate visual behavior
Mehrer, Lönnqvist, Mitola, Gökce, Papale, Schrimpf. (2026). "Model-guided microstimulation steers primate visual behavior." ICLR 2026.
CV
Education
- Ph.D., University of Cambridge, 2015–2019
- Cambridge Trust Vice-Chancellor’s Award
- M.Sc., Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 2013–2015 (GPA: 8.4/10)
- B.A., Psychology and Neuroscience, Hamburg University & Temple University Philadelphia, 2009–2013 (GPA: 3.7/4)
Experience
- 2023–present: Postdoctoral Researcher, EPFL
- NeuroAI Lab headed by Martin Schrimpf
- Computational neuroscience, model-guided causal interventions, topographic neural networks
- 2020–2022: Head of Research, weclapp SE
- Built and led a data science team in a business software company, Germany
Publications
Inducing dyslexia in vision language models
Honarmand, Sharma, Al-Khamissi, Mehrer*, Schrimpf* (*shared last authorship). (2026). "Inducing dyslexia in vision language models." ICLR 2026.
Discovering functionally selective brain regions with deep topographic multimodal models
Al-Khamissi*, Mehrer*, Marinov, Abdelaal, Gokce, Schrimpf (*shared first authorship). (2026). "Discovering functionally selective brain regions with deep topographic multimodal models." CCN 2026.
TopoLM: brain-like spatio-functional organization in a topographic language model
Rathi*, Mehrer*, AlKhamissi, Binhuraib, Blauch, Schrimpf (*shared first authorship). (2025). "TopoLM: brain-like spatio-functional organization in a topographic language model." ICLR 2025.
Dreaming out loud: A self-synthesis approach for training vision-language models with developmentally plausible data
AlKhamissi, Tang, Gokce, Mehrer*, Schrimpf* (*shared last authorship). (2024). "Dreaming out loud: A self-synthesis approach for training vision-language models with developmentally plausible data." CoNLL 2024.
Ecoset: an ecologically more valid visual diet for deep learning yields better models of human high-level visual cortex
Mehrer, Spoerer, Jones, Kriegeskorte, Kietzmann. (2021). "Ecoset: an ecologically more valid visual diet for deep learning yields better models of human high-level visual cortex." PNAS.
Diverse deep neural networks all predict human IT well, after training and fitting
Storrs, Kietzmann, Walther, Mehrer, Kriegeskorte. (2021). "Diverse deep neural networks all predict human IT well, after training and fitting." Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.
Individual differences among deep neural network models
Mehrer, Spoerer, Jones, Kriegeskorte, Kietzmann. (2020). "Individual differences among deep neural network models." Nature Communications.
Recurrent neural networks can explain flexible trading of speed and accuracy in biological vision
Spoerer, Kietzmann, Mehrer, Charest, Kriegeskorte. (2020). "Recurrent neural networks can explain flexible trading of speed and accuracy in biological vision." PLOS Computational Biology.
Talks
Model-Guided Auditory Stimulus Selection for Schizophrenia Subtype Detection
Invited Talk (remote) at Translational Neuromodeling Unit, Prof. Klaas Enno Stephan, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland (remote)
Model-Guided Microstimulation Steers Primate Visual Behavior
Invited Talk (remote) at Visual Inference Laboratory, Prof. Nikolaus Kriegeskorte, Columbia University, New York, US (remote)
Model-Guided Microstimulation Steers Primate Visual Behavior
Invited Talk at Max Planck School of Cognition Summer Academy, Dresden, Germany
TopoLM: brain-like spatio-functional organization in a topographic language model
Oral Presentation (top 2%) at International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), ICLR 2025
TopoLM: brain-like spatio-functional organization in a topographic language model
Workshop Talk at Workshop on Topographic Deep Neural Network Models, Cognitive Computational Neuroscience (CCN) Conference, CCN 2025
TopoLM: brain-like spatio-functional organization in a topographic language model
Invited Talk at Workshop on Large Language Models in Brain Research, Giessen University, Giessen, Germany
Model-Guided Microstimulation Steers Primate Visual Behavior
Invited Talk (remote) at Cognitive Computational Neuroscience Lab, Prof. Adrien Doerig, Free University Berlin, Berlin, Germany (remote)
Topographic ANNs predict neural and behavioral responses to causal perturbations
Invited Talk at Computational Cognitive Neuroscience and Quantitative Psychiatry, Prof. Martin Hebart, Giessen University, Giessen, Germany
Topographic ANNs predict neural and behavioral responses to causal perturbations
Invited Talk at EBRAINS Baltic-Nordic Summer School on Neuroscience, Helsinki, Finland
Topographic ANNs predict neural and behavioral responses to causal perturbations
Invited Talk at International Interdisciplinary Computational Cognitive Science Summer School, Osnabrück, Germany
Artificial neural network models for computational neurology and psychiatry
Invited Talk at Translational Neuromodeling Unit, Prof. Klaas Enno Stephan, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Teaching
- Guest lecture: Brain-like Computation and Intelligence — Model-Guided Causal Interventions, EPFL NX-414 (2026)
- Teaching assistant, Psychological and Behavioral Science Tripos (PBS4), Cambridge University (2016–2018, 6 trimesters)
Supervision
- PhD students: Melika Honarmand (EPFL, 2024–ongoing), Badr Al-Khamissi (EPFL, 2025–ongoing)
- Master students: Eylül Ipçi (EPFL, 2023–ongoing), Neil Rathi (Stanford, 2024)
- Bachelor students: Sophie Sigfstead (University of Alberta, 2025), Ahmed Abdelaal (Cairo University, 2025), Ayati Sharma (Berkeley, 2024), Aditi Arun (Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, 2024)
Peer Review
- Journals: Nature, PLOS ONE, Cognition, Nature Communications Psychology
- Conferences: ICLR, ICML, CCN
- Funding bodies: NSF (US), ELLIS (EU), EPFL EDIC (Switzerland)
Grants and Fellowships
- EPFL Neuro-X Institute HPC computing resources (~€20,500), 2024
- Cambridge Trust Vice-Chancellor’s Award (~€84,000), 2015–2019
- German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) full stipend (~€26,000), 2012–2013
- Exchange program Temple University / Hamburg University (~€24,000), 2011–2012
- German Merit Foundation / Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (~€19,000), 2008–2015
Service
- Co-organizer, CCN 2025 workshop: “Modeling the Physical Brain: Spatial Organization and Biophysical Constraints”
- Technical program committee, CCN 2024–2025
- Project host, EPFL Lemanic Life Sciences Hackathon 2024