The hypothalamus sits at the interface between the brain and body. It processes sensory, emotional, cognitive and environmental information to powerfully coordinate essential behavioral and physiological survival adaptations.
By studying the hypothalamus, we can gain insights into how the brain coordinates a comprehensive reaction to homeostatic challenges.
Our Research Goals
1) Decipher the anatomical and functional organization of hypothalamic circuits that control adaptations to threats.
2) Define how homeostatic responses are dynamically modulated over short and long timescales.
3) Establish how these circuits are flexibly engaged depending on internal state and time of day.
Our Methods
We record activity of neurons in vivo in freely-moving mice using single-cell resolution calcium imaging and fiber photometry We do this acutely and have also developed methods for continuous recordings for up to weeks.
We track changes in physiology with real-time measurements of heart-rate, blood pressure, breathing and thermogenesis.
We manipulate activity of neurons with optogenetics and chemogenetics.
We map the connections between hypothalamus and other parts of the brain using AAV-based tracing methods.