Our goal is to unveil how experience and learning modify the connectivity and excitability of neuronal circuits and how these changes affect behavior. Much of our work focuses on how inhibitory transmission and plasticity sculpts cortical activity, and on the integration of excitation and inhibition in distinct neuron groups and circuits.

To gain information about general principles guiding the ability of neural circuits to respond to experience and learning, we perform our studies in three cortical regions that differ in anatomical organization and driving input: gustatory, visual and motor cortices. In addition to investigating healthy brain circuits, we apply our studies to animal models of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders to assess which aspects of neural circuit activity may be altered in pathological conditions.

We use manipulation of sensory drive, pharmacological, optogenetic or chemogenetic manipulations of specific neuron groups and/or behavioral training to perturb activity and analyze of circuits respond to change using behavioral analysis, electrophysiology in acute slice preparation and   in vivo  as well as calcium imaging.