His research focuses on cellular and molecular characterizations of rapid changes during synaptic plasticity.Dr. Watanabe received his undergraduate degree and Ph.D. in biology from the University of Utah. He completed postdoctoral work in neuroscience at the University of Utah and Charité –Universitätzmedizin, Berlin. He joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2016.He is a member of the Society for Neuroscience, the American Society for Cell Biology and the Biophysical Society. His work has been recognized with several awards, including the Eppendorf and Science Prize for Neurobiology from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.