Dr. Polan's research interests are normal and abnormal behavior development, which initially led him to study feeding and attachment disorders of infancy with Daniel Stern and Mary J. Ward here at Cornell, then to obtain a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study the origins of attachment behavior in infant rats in the laboratory of Myron Hofer at Columbia University's Department of Psychiatry. Now he is using molecular biology to study the development of cognitive deficits in transgenic mouse models of schizophrenia and other neurodevelopmental disorders in the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior in Eric Kandel's laboratory at Columbia. Currently he is funded by the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology and the Lieber Center for Schizophrenia Research.

He welcomes inquiries from college students, medical students, and residents who want research experience during summers or elective time.