Research

We are currently studying the neural circuitry underlying two types of complex behavior which are both interesting to us as well as experimentally tractable.  The first is navigation-based decision making, which leverages the navigation capabilities of mice to enable them to make decisions based on particular features of the environment. For example, mice can use information from multiple sequentially-delivered sensory cues to determine the location of a reward. The second behavioral paradigm is social behavior, where we study the interaction of multiple mice under varying conditions. We typically adapt both behaviors to enable the interrogation of the neural circuitry at high resolution by way of multiphoton microscopy. This entails the use of a virtual reality system for mice (or otherwise getting a little creative). Additionally, we are always trying out new behavioral paradigms, so feel free to contact us for the latest updates.