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Neural Circuits Underlying Natural Visual Behaviors
We work to identify the neural circuit basis of prey identification and targeting behaviors in mice by selectively manipulating genetically identified cell types in the brain and then quantifying specific behavioral responses. The lab takes a comparative approach by collaborating with a number of researchers studying this ubiquitous behavior across species. This allows us to contrast our findings in mice with studies of visually-guided foraging behaviors and visual search in other rodent species, birds and even fish. Ultimately, this will allow us to precisely identify the genetic, developmental and neural circuit level mechanisms that underlie optimal visual system function under many environmental conditions.
Development, Aging and Disease of Visual Perception and Behavior
We are also curious as to why specific visuomotor behaviors change over our life-span, and, why they may be different across individuals or in specific disease states. We therefore study and quantify variation in visually-guided prey capture over development, by behavioral state and in various disease states that affect neurodevelopment, attention and sensory processing.
Development of Visual Neural Circuit Function
To understand how variation in sensory perception and behavior arise and are codified within a species, we also study the molecular and cellular developmental mechanisms that underlie the wiring up of specific visual system function in the mammalian brain. For these experiments, we spatially and temporally target genetic manipulations to defined cell types in the visual system and assess the impact of those manipulation on the development of the receptive field properties of the neurons. Visually-guided behavior is also quantified in these mutants in order to determine whether the molecular and cellular changes yield behavioral phenotypes that affect organismal fitness.
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