Glia. Circuits. Behavior.
Discovering how glial cells build, regulate, and reshape the neural circuits underlying behavior.
Glia shape the brain.
How the brain is built. How it adapts. Why it sometimes goes wrong.
Our lab investigates how glial cells build, regulate, and reshape the neural circuits that produce behavior across development and throughout life. We connect cellular mechanisms to circuit function and behavior to uncover how experience becomes biologically embedded in the brain, and understand how these processes determine the balance between adaptation, resilience, and vulnerability. By placing glia at the center of this biology, our work seeks to advance a new understanding of how brain circuits become disrupted in psychiatric illness and identify new paths toward prevention and treatment.
Not sure yet if I’ll have an image here, or if this should just be a text only block that is centered.
Not sure if i like this header here above the sort of “mission statement”. MIght just move this to the first research intro page.
Questions we’re asking
How are the neural circuits for social behavior built? Our lab studies how microglia shape social behavior circuitry by deciding which cells survive, which connections persist, and how early developmental events can influence social behavior across the lifespan.
How do astrocytes regulate neural circuit function? Our lab studies how astrocytes interact with synapses to shape neuron activity and plasticity to understand how disruptions of these interactions can alter behavior and contribute to brain dysfunction.
How does experience reshape neural circuitry? Our lab studies how early life experience, such as stress, alters the interactions between microglia and astrocytes in reward circuits, and how these cellular changes influence motivation, reward sensitivity, and vulnerability to addiction.
Follow Our Scientific Updates
Debating how hard I want to lean into socials and other media, so this may get removed. Not sure it’s worth it unless it’s super curated and updated. Could also do just a “recent updates” section here instead with a blog style feed. Second idea, this could be “updates” but also where the latest publications come up. Not sure if this should be a blog or just a text entry that I change frequently.
Contact us
Might just put this as a stand alone page rather than right on the front,