Our mission is to discover the neural circuitry and organizational principles that enable animals to modify their actions swiftly and aptly in real-time, a cornerstone of natural intelligence.
Our approach is grounded in linking the functional architecture of neural circuits with behavior in the mouse. We combine the investigation of ethological goal-driven behaviors in unrestrained mice with more controlled head-fixed paradigms whenever possible. Our projects employ a comprehensive suite of cutting-edge neurotechnological methods for recording and manipulating neural activity during behavior, including super-high-density electrophysiology, two-photon microscopy, one-photon miniscope, fiber photometry, optogenetics, intersectional viral tracing, and machine-learning methods for automatic behavioral measurements. This multi-scale, multi-modal approach equips us to explore neuronal function and network dynamics across various temporal (i.e., millisecond-to-minutes) and spatial (i.e., neuron-to-networks) dimensions.
Our research extends beyond experimental efforts. We place significant emphasis on computational and theoretical modeling, which we achieve through dynamic collaborations with computational groups.