Cognición e interacciones sociales.

Research interests: Our research focuses on determining cellular- and circuit-based mechanisms by which higher-order brain regions such as the hippocampus and pre-frontal cortex relay cognitive information to the hypothalamus in order to modulate innate motivated behaviors (sociability, aggression, mating). As alterations in higher brain regions contribute to neuropsychiatric diseases associated with disordered social behaviors, insight into both the normal and abnormal functions of these circuits is of critical importance. In addition, I am investigating how neuronal plasticity rules, mostly described ex vivo in brain slices, can support learning-related behaviors in vivo.

Techniques: immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, viral tracing of neural circuits, patch-clamp in acute slices with optogenetic, fiber-photometry, miniature endoscopes, opto- and chemogenetic in freely behaving animals. Behavioral assays of social interactions.