Research
Research
We study the neural basis of vision and navigation
Our research is centered on the visual cortex, its circuitry and its contribution to sensory perception and behavior. We also develop new approaches to investigate neural circuits in health and disease.
Understanding sensory processing in the brain
Our ability to comprehend the world and to interact with it relies on our brains’ ability to process sensory signals and transform them into flexible representations that support perception, learning, memory, and action. This processing seems effortless. Yet at its core lies an intricate network of nerve cells that extract and encode important sensory information.
We study the biological mechanisms that underlie this sensory processing in the mammalian brain.
- How are sensory computations implemented at the level of neural circuits?
- How do sensory representations support behavior and mediate perception?
While we focus on the visual cortex we also study interconnected brain regions such as the thalamus, retrosplenial cortex and hippocampus.
Microprobes and microscopes
We tackle these questions using experiments in laboratory mice with in vivo cellular imaging and high-density silicon probe recordings in combination with genetic-based circuit dissection.
The mouse cortex can be efficiently investigated with in vivo circuit approaches such as viral vector tracing, two-photon microscopy, and high-density silicon probe recordings (Neuropixels probes).
We make measurements in behaving animals and trace the flow of information within and across visual areas and use data analysis methods to link activity patterns to the animal’s responses to sensory stimuli.
Our collaborators
