Lighting a path to understanding the brain's 'language'
The Nitabach lab is focused broadly on the use of genetic, physiological, and behavioral approaches to understanding the information processing principles by which neural circuits control animal behavior. Particular behaviors we are interested in include sleep, circadian rhythms, multisensory integration, and learning.
Most of our work is pursued using as model organisms Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies and Caenorhabditis elegans nematode fruit worms. Specific technical approaches employed include whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology, optical imaging of membrane voltage and intracellular second messengers, cell-specific genetic targeting of biophysical and biochemical effectors, and sophisticated behavioral assays.