We explore the brain’s computational and neural circuit mechanisms that drive cognition, decisions, and emotions to advance psychiatry and artificial intelligence.
Key questions driving our research:
1. What algorithms govern behavior?
2. How do specific neural circuits and cell types generate cognition, motivation, and emotion?
3. How do brain-body interactions shape physiology and behavior?
By reverse-engineering how the brain performs cognitive tasks—often surpassing the most advanced machine learning models—we aim to uncover the circuit-level principles driving behavior, inform AI design, and open new avenues in psychiatric research.
Our experimental approach combines marking, mapping, monitoring, and manipulating neural circuits to understand how populations of neurons control behavior, emotions, and cognitive functions. We integrate quantitative behavioral analysis, high-density electrophysiology and imaging, optogenetics, anatomical tracing, molecular biology, and computational modeling, working across levels of analysis from individual neurons to whole circuits.
Our multidisciplinary team brings together researchers from diverse backgrounds to tackle neuroscience’s toughest questions. Driven by curiosity, we seek answers that bridge individual neurons, entire circuits, and complex behaviors. We believe that bold, sometimes unconventional experiments push science forward and we’re constantly inspired by the intricacies of biology.
Since joining Washington University, we’ve expanded into biological psychiatry and immunology, exploring new frontiers in brain-body physiology. We’re committed to translating our findings from animal models to clinical applications, aiming to improve mental health research and care.