How are neural circuits wired and how do they function?
Neurons communicate through synaptic connections. Complex behaviors are regulated by ensembles of neurons organized in discrete circuits. Mapping those circuits is the first step toward understanding how behaviors are regulated. Neuroscientists in DNB modulate the activity of individual neurons in circuits to gain deeper understanding of the neurons, their circuits and associated behaviors.
We use the following fundamental quesetions to guide our work as we assemble the brain's circuitry.
How are distant brain regions integrated into circuits?
How do neurons and circuits change over time with experience?
How are autonomic neural circuits different from those that are modulated with learning?
How do circuits and networks of circuits change in neurologic diseases?
Answers to these questions propel our understanding of cognition, memory and learning, stress response and coordinated movement.
Investigating the neural circuits, synaptic function, and molecular mechanisms controlling learning and memory and their dysfunction in neuropsychiatric disease
