Learning to perceptually discriminate chemical signals in our environment (olfactory perceptual learning) is critical for survival. Multiple mechanisms have been implicated in olfactory perceptual learning, …
Adverse experiences in childhood, ranging from neglect to resource scarcity to abuse, alter developmental trajectories and increase risk for reward-related psychopathologies. In humans, exposure to …
Sensory input gives our brains the information they need to understand and interpret the world. Information from our eyes, ears, skin and other sensory organs …
Afferent inputs to the ventral tegmental area (VTA) control reward-related behaviors through regulation of dopamine neuron activity. Although the nucleus accumbens (NAc) has long been …
Understanding the neural dynamics of action selection, planning, and execution is necessary to treat motor system disorders. This task is complicated by the fact that …
How synaptic plasticity in-vivo manages diverse properties of biological neural networks remains poorly understood. My collaborators and I address this by examining basic models of …
Resource insecurity (e.g., poverty) can be a significant source of stress. Decreased resources in childhood have been associated with increased risk for developing stress-related disorders, …
Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder characterized by the recurrence of spontaneous seizures. However, the mechanisms of transition into seizures are still unclear. A better …
Why should an animal move? Given that actions have time, energy, and opportunity costs, all behavior should benefit an animal, maximizing its current or future …
Our ability to detect and perceive pain is driven by complex interactions that occur across the central and peripheral nervous systems. By understanding how neural …
Ethanol is a naturally occurring organic compound that has had a profound impact on behavior and society. In the natural environment it directs an animal …
We develop three new models of neurovascular coupling at each interface of the neurovascular unit. The neurovascular unit comprises neurons, microvessels, and astrocytes, a type …
Although Type I lissencephaly is one of the most severe cortical malformation disorders and is highly comorbid with epilepsy, the cellular and circuit mechanisms driving …
Motivations are vital to organism survival, and control of their expression is one of the most important functions of the nervous system. For successful execution …
The rodent postrhinal cortex (POR), analogous to the primate parahippocampal cortex, has an important role within the medial temporal lobe memory network for spatial, episodic, …
Sensory neurons have the unique ability to rapidly adapt their output in response to changes in their environment. Sensory nerve endings can become transiently or …
Christianson syndrome (CS) is a monogenic, X-linked neurological disorder caused by loss-of-function mutations in the gene encoding endosomal Na+/H+ exchanger 6 (NHE6) (also known as …
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is becoming increasingly popular for neuroscientific study, but it remains challenging to objectively quantify tissue and vascular properties from 3D or …
Macrophages have garnered much attention in recent years for their vast array of non-canonical functions, beyond being sentinel immuno-modulatory cells. These functions can be broadly …
Abstract of Sex-Selective Effects of Early Life Stress on the Development of Cognitive and Affective Pathology in a Mouse Model, by Haley Goodwill, Ph.D., Brown …