Funding Source: NSF (Division of Integrative Organismal Systems) – Award #: 2016188 – The overall goal of the current work in the lab is to explore how the brain integrates internal and external environments to modify the perception of visual … Continue reading RUI: State-dependent modulation of visuomotor reflexes across Drosophila species Neuroscience Faculty

Funding Source: Otsuka Pharmaceuticals and NIH R01 DK61935 – The ovarian hormones, estradiol and progesterone, bind to their receptors in the brain and throughout the body to influence behavior and physiology. Our work focuses on how receptors for these hormones … Continue reading Mechanisms of Steroid Action in Brain and the Role of Estrogens in Energy Homeostasis

Decision-making requires the brain to integrate multiple stimuli and elicit an appropriate behavioral response. However, a singular input does not always produce the same output. An animal’s external environment, internal physiological state, and behavior will determine how it assigns the … Continue reading The Effects of Internal State on Sensory Perception

Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian brain and its synaptic levels are tightly regulated by glutamate transporters, located primarily on glia. In the nematode, C. Elegans, the major excitatory neurotransmitter is acetylcholine, but glutamate neurotransmission remains critical … Continue reading The role of glutamate transporters in C. Elegans behavior and lifespan

Funding Source: Award R15HD085143 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health – There is a fundamental gap in understanding how plasticity in the nervous system supports the development … Continue reading Neural mechanisms of auditory memory formation necessary for vocal learning

Funding Source: Award NSF-IOS 1625270 (National Science Foundation, Integrative Organismal Systems) – New nerve cells are generated in the brains of many adult organisms, including humans, and their production is regulated by a variety of factors such as environment, diet, … Continue reading Adult neurogenesis: Contributions from the innate immune system