In my lab we seek to understand how systems-level dynamics give rise to various aspects of brain function and behavior in health and disease.

To advance these goals, we take advantage of whole-brain functional imaging in humans and animal models. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) allows us to measure activity in multiple brain systems simultaneously, and to look at dynamic interactions between regions of the brain. To manipulate well defined populations of neurons, we are using optogenetic techniques that enable cell-type specific optical control of electrical activity at a millisecond resolution. Combining optogenetic techniques with whole-brain fMRI (termed “opto-fMRI”), we study the mechanisms governing neural dynamics at the level of the microcircuit and across brain regions.