Research

What we do:

We seek to understand how the brain and body communicate as an integrated network. This includes studying (1) how brain circuits and behavior are modulated by viscerosensory information, (2) how the central nervous system works together with motor and sensory autonomic circuits to implement feedback control of organ function, and (3) the function of intraorgan nervous systems.

How we do it:

We use a multidisciplinary approach that includes (1) engineering new optical tools for measuring whole-body cellular physiology, (2) integrating models of behavior, organ function, and neural circuits to develop model-driven testable hypotheses, and (3) using cutting-edge life science techniques such as connectomics, spatial transcriptomics, and optogenetics to uncover the key components of the networks that support organism-wide homeostasis.

Areas of Research

  • In this research area, we aim to identify the circuit mechanisms that integrate information from multiple organ systems and from the external environment to then orchestrate changes in behavior, brain state and visceral physiology.

  • We study how the central nervous system (CNS) interacts with the autonomic nervous system (ANS) to implement the transformations from viscerosensory signals to visceromotor commands. These projects involve the simultaneous measurement of neural dynamics in the CNS, the sensory vagus nerve, motor vagus nerve, and the sympathetic system, as well as targeted optogenetic perturbations, while also measuring the physiological state of the organ of study. We often leverage the developmental program of larval zebrafish to study the system as new limbs of the autonomic nervous system become functional.

  • We combine optical physiology, calcium imaging, optogenetics, spatial transcriptomics, and connectomics to uncover the functional diversity of intraorgan neurons. We then integrate organ physiology with our other measurements to develop functional models that incorporate neural dynamics and organ cell/tissue dynamics at physiologically relevant timescales.