Our Research

We are working to understand how cells, synapses, and circuits give rise to the incredible computational power of our own human brain.

Using surgically resected patient tissue, we investigate the structural and functional properties of human neurons, directly asking:

1. How human circuits are functioning?
2. How they change with patient disease?
3. Do human circuits use distinct features from other animals?

Our core techniques are:

Multicellular patch-clamp

By recording from multiple neurons at once, we determine the properties of functioning synapses and microcircuits.

Cell and synapse imaging

Confocal and super-resolution imaging allow detailed reconstruction of cell and synaptic architectures.

Bioinformatic data integration

We integrate our findings with the wealth of open resources for molecular insight into circuit function.

Our recent work mapped the specific connectivity rules of human hippocampal CA3, explored cell-specific wiring between subtypes of CA3 neurons, and molecularly identified these subtypes across species.