I do neuroscience research at Columbia University aimed at understanding how the brain controls the body. It's a fun time to be a neuroscientist! I get to turn neural circuits on and off with lasers. I get to work on machine learning tools that draw insights from massive amounts of data. Most importantly, I get to answer interesting questions with rich datasets. Here is a full list of my scientific publications, and here are summaries of my favorite projects:
what fish brains tell us about how we move
With neuroscientists working on topics as diverse as the eyes of flies, the guts of mice, and the neural basis of free will, it's easy to get the impression that the field is engaged in what Ernest Rutherford (probably, and derisively) called "stamp collecting" - amassing facts about the world without uncovering general principles from which deeper understanding emerges. A nice counter-example comes from Nate Sawtell's work on electric fish. In an incredible case of convergent evolution, a brain region that helps a strange fish detect electricity bears remarkable similarity to the cerebellum, a motor control brain region in mammals. In this review Nate Sawtell and I argue that both brain regions implement the same underlying algorithm, and we show how it can be leveraged both for sensory processing and the control of movement. |
jumping hurdles to understand the neural control of movement
While the neural control of some simple types of movement is well understood, how the brain coordinates complex, whole-body behavior remains a mystery. For my PhD research I developed a closed loop system in which mice run on top of a wheel and skillfully leap over motorized hurdles while I record from their brains. I developed a custom linear motion system (shown to the left) along with custom microcontroller software that moves hurdles towards mice at the same speed that mice are running, simulating what it is like to jump over stationary objects. Using my open source motion tracking system I then relate the 3D movements of mice to the activity of neurons that control these movements. |
what you don't see won't hurt you
The human brain is a complicated machine. With 100 billion neurons churning away throughout ours lives, it's unsurprising that some of what goes on under the neural hood occurs without our awareness. With modern neuroimaging techniques we can ask what happens in the brain when we processes information unconsciously. During my undergraduate thesis we presented subliminal images of spiders to people with arachnophobia while scanning their brains. Remarkably, spider images activated emotional centers in the brain without causing feelings of fear. The coolest part? This procedure actually increased phobics' willingness to interact with a real tarantula, suggesting that techniques like exposure therapy may be effective even when exposure occurs subliminally. |
stop listening to yourself!
Many neuroscientists fall into one of two camps: those who figure out how the brain controls the body, and those who figure out how the brain processes sensory information. However, some of the coolest stuff occurs at the intersection between sensation and action. For example, how does the brain distinguish sensations generated by our own actions (like the sound of our footsteps) from those caused by things in the world (like the sound of a predator sneaking up to eat you!)? In Nature Neuroscience, we show how a little brain region in mammals tunes out the sounds of animals' own behavior, potentially enhancing their ability to detect critical sounds from the outside world. |