Research Summary

The prevalence of obesity has exploded over the past 40 years. The biological systems that underlie the excessive eating behavior contributing to obesity onset remain poorly understood. Our research goal is to discover the neural systems and psychological processes that control energy balance, with a particular focus on understanding the neurobiological substrates that regulate obesity-promoting behaviors such as food impulsivity and environmental cue-induced feeding. Another primary focus of our lab is to study how the brain is negatively impacted by dietary and metabolic factors. Consumption of Western diets (high in saturated fatty acids and sugars) not only contributes to obesity development, but also produces deficits in learning and memory capabilities and can even increase the risk for developing dementia. We are currently examining the specific causal dietary factors, critical developmental periods, and neurobiological mechanisms underlying diet-induced cognitive decline. Ongoing research identifies the gut microbiome as a critical link between unhealthy junk food diets and neurocognition.

Research Summary

The research projects are driven by a talented group of postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, research staff and collaborating faculty. Our laboratory is unique in undertaking both basic and clinical research projects. Research projects investigate the development of brain architecture underlying emotional and social behavior and learning, the challenges that arise when neurodevelopment is derailed, and determining why brain and certain medical disorders often co-occur in children. The basic science projects are focused how genes and prenatal and early postnatal environments together influence typical and atypical development. The clinical research projects focus on understanding the impact of early experiences, positive (social connectedness) and negative (early life adversities – neglect/abuse) on healthy brain and child development and the impact on metabolic health.

Research Summary

The Liman lab studies how ion channels enable sensory cells to convert chemical and mechanical cues into electrical signals. We discovered the Otopetrin (OTOP) family of proton-selective ion channels and showed that OTOP1 is the long-sought sour-taste receptor as well as a detector of ammonium. Using patch-clamp electrophysiology, structure-guided mutagenesis, cryo-EM, and in vivo genetics we aim to reveal how protons permeate OTOP pores, how gating is tuned by pH and lipids, and how channel activity shapes taste, balance, and metabolic physiology. Ongoing projects extend these questions to other OTOP isoforms combining medium-throughput screening with computational modeling to identify first-in-class modulators and mouse genetics to identify and manipulate cells that express OTOP channels. Students gain rigorous cross-disciplinary training in membrane biophysics and sensory neuroscience while working in a collaborative, inclusive environment.

Research Summary

Many mammals sense and affect their environment predominantly through innate motor programs for exploration, social interaction, and ingestion; yet, little is known about the neuronal circuits that control these motor programs. Our lab uses molecular, systems, and computational neurobiological techniques to identify specific brainstem motor control modules and to determine how higher-order brain structures engage these modules for innate behaviors.

Research Summary

Research Summary

The core questions driving my research are “What is shared between individual brains?” and “How do we share our thoughts with one another?”—using language and other coordinated actions. My research combines naturalistic neuroimaging paradigms (fMRI, ECoG) and deep neural networks to better answer these questions in real-world contexts. In current work, we leverage large language models to better understand how humans use language to transmit complex thoughts from one brain to another.