Our lab focuses on understanding how the brain senses and controls the body that is attached to it. We specifically aim at anatomically and physiologically describing the neural networks that link the brain to craniofacial and abdominal organs. My laboratory employs a range of techniques suitable to study the interaction between the central and peripheral nervous systems. Those include special surgical approaches, cell-specific neuroanatomical tracing, pathway-defined optogenetics, and in vivo electrophysiological recordings from nerves, muscles, and neurons.

We are also developing closed-loop algorithms and interfaces to control peripheral musculatures, with emphasis on networks controlling the craniofacial system. We are researching the deterioration of these systems in Parkinson's disease and ways to ameliorate symptoms via stimulation techniques.