Prof. Nelken is one of the leading auditory neuroscientists in the world. He has developed a variety of experimental and computational methodologies for a better understanding of signaling in neurons and circuits. His major contribution to neuroscience is the discovery of stimulus-specific adaptation, a phenomenon that reflects the computation of a prediction error signal in the brain.

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Israel Nelken holds the position of Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences and serves as the director of the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He holds the Milton and Brindell Gottlieb Chair in Brain Sciences award and has received numerous prestigious honors for his work.