Valadez, Emilio
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Our lab focuses on understanding how early risk factors, such as temperament and early adversity, confer risk for future emotional problems among children and adolescents. More specifically, we are interested in how executive functions (assessed with a combination of behavioral, EEG, and MRI measures) moderate the psychiatric impact of early-life risk factors. Three interrelated questions spanning basic and translational work guide our research: 1) How are executive functions supported by the brain? 2) How do early risk factors alter the development of executive functions? 3) How do executive functions interact with early risk to modulate psychiatric outcomes? Ultimately, our work aims to better understand basic cognitive and developmental processes to identify novel target mechanisms for intervention.
Watts, Alan
Professor of Biological Sciences
My work focuses on understanding how the brain contributes to the development, manifestation, and complications of diabetes and obesity, primarily on how this happens at the neural network level. In particular, I am interested in how interoceptive and exteroceptive signals interact with the brain to control endocrine and behavioral responses to energy deficits. Currently I am using neuroinformatic methods to explore how the rat brain connectome can reveal the organization of the control networks that influence the behavioral, endocrine, and autonomic motor events associated with metabolic physiology and its dysfunction.
Wood, Ruth
Professor of Integrative Anatomical Sciences
My research uses rodent models to study behavioral neuroendocrinology, how hormones act in the brain during development and in adulthood to control behavior in males and females. My emphasis is on hormonal control of cognition, cooperative behavior, and reward. Current research addresses how oxytocin promotes cooperation, and how anabolic steroid abuse impairs cognition.
Zhang, Li
Professor of Physiology and Neuroscience
As systems neuroscientists, we aim to decipher brain circuits to understand how perception and behavior arise, how the brain adapts to a dynamic environment, and how circuit dysfunction contributes to neurological and psychiatric disorders. We focus on resolving neural architecture—the wiring of neurons that underlies brain function. Technical innovation is central to our approach. We have developed molecular, genetic, electrophysiological, and imaging tools to study circuits supporting both local computation and behavior. Our research integrates in vivo and in vitro electrophysiology, two-photon calcium imaging, neural modeling, anatomical tracing, and optogenetics to build a comprehensive understanding of cell-type-specific circuit mechanisms.
