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Dr. Kevin Mitchell

Assoc Prof in Developmental Neurobiolo (Genetics)
Assoc Prof in Developmental Neurobiolo (Trinity Inst. of Neurosciences (TCIN))
      
Profile Photo

Dr. Kevin Mitchell

Assoc Prof in Developmental Neurobiolo (Genetics)

 kevin.mitchell@tcd.ie

 3531896 3067/3067

Assoc Prof in Developmental Neurobiolo (Trinity Inst. of Neurosciences (TCIN))


Kevin Mitchell is a graduate of the Genetics Department, Trinity College Dublin (B.A., Mod. 1991) and received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley (1997), where he studied nervous system development with Prof. Corey Goodman. He did postdoctoral research with Prof. Marc Tessier-Lavigne at Stanford University, using molecular genetics to study neural development in the mouse. Since 2002 he has been on the faculty at Trinity College Dublin as a Science Foundation Ireland Investigator and now as Associate Professor in Genetics and Neuroscience. He was an EMBO Young Investigator and was elected to Fellowship of Trinity College in 2009. He served as Associate Director of Undergraduate Science Education at Trinity College Dublin from 2016-18 and led a re-imagining of the TCD science courses. Since 2018, he has been Senior Lecturer/Dean of Undergraduate Studies and has been leading efforts to create a systematic Common Architecture with the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences under the Trinity Education Project. This aims to rationalise curricular approaches under a common system with a fixed timetable, introduce greater flexibility and breadth while maintaining a strong programmatic focus, and facilitate effective innovation in delivery and assessment methods. His research interests are in understanding the genetic program specifying the wiring of the brain and its relevance to variation in human faculties, especially to psychiatric and neurological disease. He is particularly interested in schizophrenia, and autism and variation in perception, including synaesthesia. His group has discovered numerous genes involved in specifying neuronal connectivity in the developing brain and shown that mutations in such genes in mice can lead to neurological and behavioural symptoms, modelling aspects of epilepsy, psychosis and ADHD. His cross-disciplinary work on synaesthesia has helped shape the understanding of the genetic, developmental and neural basis of this unique perceptual condition. He is also a leading scholar in the genetics of neurodevelopmental disorders, having made numerous theoretical contributions and recently edited a book on the subject. The over-arching goal of his work is to help develop and promote a coherent conceptual framework in which to integrate findings from diverse fields, particularly genetics, developmental biology and neuroscience. This strategy is manifested in his cross-disciplinary experimental research and scholarship, as described above, and also in his teaching, conference organising, blogging, editing and other writing. He has developed multiple courses in the emerging, integrative field of Neurogenetics, delivered to undergraduates in both Genetics and Neuroscience at TCD. He was the lead organiser of the inter-disciplinary and international Wiring the Brain conference, held in 2009 and 2011 in Ireland and in 2013, 2015, and 2017 at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York. He is an active communicator on Twitter (@WiringtheBrain) and writes a popular blog on the intersection of genetics, development, neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry (http://www.wiringthebrain.com). He also regularly gives public lectures and media interviews on diverse topics, with the goal of promoting public understanding of neuroscience and genetics. His 2018 book "Innate; How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are", published by Princeton University Press, develops an integrative conceptual framework in which to consider the origins of variation in human faculties, through a novel synthesis of findings from behavioural genetics, developmental neurobiology, neuroscience and psychology.
Project Title
 Variation in the frame rate of visual perception: testing at the margins of human ability
From
Sept 2020
To
Summary
Some animals see the world faster than others. That is, the frame rate of vision varies considerably across species. This is related to how fast they have to move in the world and therefore has important functional and ecological consequences. Humans on average see the world at 36 "frames per second", but this trait varies substantially between individuals and we know nothing about how normal variation might affect performance. This phenomenon can be measured using techniques such as Critical Flicker Fusion threshold, which measures the frequency at which a flickering stimulus can no longer be detected as such. We aim to develop robust psychophysical methods to reliably measure those differences in field conditions outside the laboratory and quantify the magnitude of variation within and among individuals. We will assess the real-world consequences of this variation in an arena where human perceptual abilities are tested to the limits and where small individual differences may make the difference between success and failure, namely in high-speed sports. This work will provide a foundation to explore wider questions: is the hypothesised advantage due to selection or training? What is the trade-off in ecological and evolutionary terms that determines perceptual frame rate? How heritable is this trait? And what are the underlying brain mechanisms? This project offers training from a collaborative team with expertise in perception, decision-making, genetics, neuroscience, ecology, and evolution. Depending on the candidate, this project has relevance to sports science, robotics and artificial vision, and in virtual and augmented reality.
Funding Agency
Provost's PhD Project Award
Project Title
 Science Foundation Ireland Investigator Grant
From
2010
To
2015
Summary
"Molecular genetic analyses of thalamocortical connectivity" €802,000
Funding Agency
SFI
Project Title
 Science Foundation Ireland Investigator Grant
From
2008
To
2009
Summary
"Cortical connectivity, from genes to behaviour" €250,000
Funding Agency
SFI
Project Title
 Health Research Board Project Grant
From
2007
To
2010
Summary
"Semaphorin and plexin genes in the etiology of epilepsy". €298,000
Funding Agency
HRB programme
Project Title
 Science Foundation Ireland Research Frontiers Grant
From
2007
To
2010
Summary
"Chemical genetic dissection of transmembrane semaphorin signaling in the CNS". Collaboration With Dr. Isabella Graef, Stanford University. €192,837
Funding Agency
SFI

Page 1 of 3
Kevin J. Mitchell, The origins of meaning: From pragmatic control signals to semantic representations, Philosophy and the Mind Sciences, 7, (1), 2026, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Haarlem CS, Hynes C, Jackson AL, Mitchell KJ, O'Connell RG, Healy K., Pace of ecology drives the tempo of visual perception across the animal kingdom., Nature ecology & evolution, 10, (4), 2026, p712-720 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI  DOI
Henry D. Potter, Kevin J. Mitchell, Chance, choice, and control: free will in an indeterministic universe, Synthese, 207, (5), 2026, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Kevin J. Mitchell, What questions should a comprehensive theory of consciousness consider?, 2025, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Kevin J. Mitchell, Undetermined: Free will in real time and through time, Teorema, 44, (1), 2025, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Kevin J. Mitchell, Darren Dahly, Dorothy Bishop, Conceptual and methodological flaws undermine claims of a link between the gut microbiome and autism, Neuron, 114, (2), 2025, p196 - 211, p196-211 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Kevin J. Mitchell, Nick Cheney, The Genomic Code: the genome instantiates a generative model of the organism, Trends in Genetics, 41, (6), 2025, p462 - 479, p462-479 , Review Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Henry D. Potter, Kevin J. Mitchell, Beyond Mechanism"Extending Our Concepts of Causation in Neuroscience, European Journal of Neuroscience, 61, (5), 2025, pe70064 - e70064, pe70064-e70064 , Review Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Potter, H.D. and Mitchell, K.J., A critique of the agential stance in development and evolution, 2024, 131-149pp, Notes: [cited By 0], Book, PUBLISHED  DOI
Mitchell, K.J., THE MISWIRED BRAIN, GENES, AND MENTAL ILLNESS, 2024, 234-242pp, Notes: [cited By 0], Book, PUBLISHED
  

Page 1 of 11
Finucane C, Corvin A, Newell FN, Mitchell KJ, Synaesthesia in the Irish population: Phenotypic characteristics and familiality, AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL GENETICS PART B-NEUROPSYCHIATRIC GENETICS, SEP 15, 130B, (1), 2004, pp60 - 60, Meeting Abstract, PUBLISHED
Mitchell, K.J., World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics, 2004, -, Notes: [On the local organising committee for the World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, 2004], Miscellaneous, PUBLISHED
Mitchell, K.J., Genetics Department, Cambridge University, January, 2003, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Mitchell, K.J., At symposium 'Wiring the Brain', Edinburgh University , April , 2003, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Mitchell, K.J., Department of Anatomy and Human Genetics , Oxford University , May, 2003, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Mitchell, K.J., Symposium on Genomics and Proteomics, University College Dublin , June, 2003, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Mitchell, K.J., Biology Society seminar series, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Nov, 2003, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Mitchell, K.J., MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King"s College, London, July , 2002, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Mitchell, K.J., Zoology Department, Trinity College Dublin, Oct. , 2002, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Mitchell, K.J, Dublin Molecular Medicine Centre, St. James"s Hospital, Dublin , Nov. , 2002, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED

  


Award Date
Summer Scholarship from the American Ireland Fund 1990
National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship 1992 - 1995
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship 1998
Jane Coffin Childs Fund for Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellowship 1998 - 2001
Wellcome Trust grant to fund the international conference 'Life and Death of the Brain' held in Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. 1999
Science Foundation Ireland Investigator Grant (€1,690,000/ five years 2002-2007
EMBO Young Investigator Programme Award 2004
2003-2005 Health Research Board Programme Grant (€164,000/ three years) 2003 - 2005
Election to Fellowship, Trinity College Dublin 2009
Appointed as Affiliate Member, MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London 2010