I am a systems neuroscientist and biophysicist driven to uncover how brain circuits transform complex sensory information into decisions, memories, and adaptive behavior. My laboratory investigates how the olfactory system and hippocampus encode the information that guides olfactory decision-making and associative learning.
A major focus of our work is understanding olfaction in health and disease. In collaboration with Andrew Bubak, Maria Nagel, Christy Niemeyer, and Andrés Villegas, we are investigating whether loss of smell can play a causal role in Alzheimer’s disease—and whether post-viral changes in the innate immune system of the nose may accelerate disease progression. These questions are urgent and interdisciplinary, spanning sensory neuroscience, neuroimmunology, neurodegeneration, and human health. We combine state-of-the-art approaches across scales, including high-density electrophysiology in awake, behaving animals; advanced neurophotonics; closed-loop optogenetics; spatial transcriptomics; lipidomics and proteomics; human olfactory stem-cell cultures; and computational neuroscience. We also develop new neurophotonic technologies through close collaborations with physicists and engineers. With Emily Gibson, we developed miniature fiber-coupled microscopes that enable imaging of neuronal activity and optogenetic holographic photostimulation in freely moving mice (Opto2P-FCM), as well as a miniature voltage-imaging microscope, miniVolt. Training environment My laboratory is an energetic, collaborative environment where lab staff, students and postdoctoral fellows gain hands-on experience with cutting-edge tools and ambitious scientific questions. I maintain an open-door mentoring style and encourage trainees to build independent, creative research programs while benefiting from a diverse and highly multidisciplinary team. Trainees are supported in developing projects they genuinely own, pursuing independent funding, and turning new ideas into impactful research directions. These trainee-initiated efforts often open entirely new avenues of investigation—providing a foundation they can carry forward into their own independent laboratories. |