KEPECS LAB

Our experimental approach combines marking, mapping, monitoring, and manipulating neural circuits to understand how populations of neurons control behavior, emotions, and cognitive functions. We integrate quantitative behavioral analysis, high-density electrophysiology and imaging, optogenetics, anatomical tracing, molecular biology, and computational modeling, working across levels of analysis from individual neurons to whole circuits... Our multidisciplinary team brings together researchers from diverse backgrounds to tackle neuroscience's toughest questions. Driven by curiosity, we seek answers that bridge individual neurons, entire circuits, and complex behaviors. We believe that bold, sometimes unconventional experiments push science forward and we're constantly inspired by the intricacies of biology... Neuromodulators can reconfigure circuit operations; we are focusing on the cholinergic basal forebrain and midbrain dopamine systems. Our research explores the computations of..

Primary location: St. Louis United States