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Functional Organization of Spinal Somatosensory Circuits

The spinal cord plays a critical role in processing somatosensory information—touch, temperature, pain and itch. Our lab is interested in characterizing these spinal microcircuits. This knowledge is important because dysfunction of these neural circuits can lead to pathological conditions of chronic pain and itch.

Our lab uses a combination of approaches to dissect these neural circuits:

• Generate novel genetic tools to study populations of spinal neurons
• Perform axon circuit mapping using viruses
• Elucidate neural coding using optogenetics and electrophysiology
• Study sensory behavior using chemogenetic approaches