A key goal for neuroscience is to understand how neural activity is orchestrated in space and time to produce behavior. This pursuit is driven by both academic and clinical motivations, as pathological activity gives rise to debilitating diseases like Parkinson’s. However, we are near the limit of what current paradigms can offer. Sophisticated computational and experimental methods are needed to interpret the full complexity of behavior as it arises from specific neural patterns. Further advances will also be required for manipulating those neural patterns to adjust behavioral programs. I have built groundbreaking technologies for both quantifying and manipulating complex behaviors. My lab will build on this to usher in a new class of neuroscience experiment, where we both read and write neural patterns in freely moving animals, causally testing how specific spatiotemporal patterns impact behavior and generating the breakthroughs needed to unlock new therapies for associated diseases.
Fellow