# overview
We are at the beginning of an exciting new era for neuroscience, as our ability to probe neural circuits and their neuronal components is advancing rapidly due to genetic and optogenetic tools. Our research program applies these tools to address fundamental questions about how the same neural circuitry generates different motor patterns, and how such circuits develop and are maintained. We investigate these questions using the Drosophila larva, which has the following advantages:(i) The connectome of the larval motor circuit is near completion, enabling us to identify, at the single-synapse level, the pre and postsynaptic partners of each individual neuron embedded in it. This anatomical map has provided an excellent substrate to study the development, maintenance, and function of larval motor circuits as well as the cell biology of individual neurons embedded within it. (ii) The larval CNS generates multiple motor behaviors that can be studied at the single neuron/single muscle level. Moreover, using the modern optogenetic methods, it is possible to access individual neurons, monitor or alter their activity, and observe the behavioral consequences. (iii) It is also feasible to selectively inactivate or induce ectopic expression of any gene (e.g. those coding for transcription factors) in the neuron of interest, and examine its effect on intrinsic neural properties, morphology, connectivity pattern, and behavioral performance of the animal, thereby linking the gene to development and behavior.

# keywords[]
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

# keywords[]
1.1 Normal Biological Development And Functioning

# keywords[]
Stem Cell Research - Nonembryonic - Non-human

# keywords[]
1.1 Normal Biological Development And Functioning

# keywords[]
1.1 Normal Biological Development And Functioning

# keywords[]
1.1 Normal Biological Development And Functioning

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
Howard Hughes Medical Institute - (Chevy Chase, Maryland, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
Trinity College Dublin - (Dublin, Dublin, Ireland)

# publications[].label
Overexpression of transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1 and TGF-beta3 genes in lung of toxic-inhaled patients.

# publications[].label
A GATA/homeodomain transcriptional code regulates axon guidance through the Unc-5 receptor.

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A developmental framework linking neurogenesis and circuit formation in the Drosophila CNS.

# publications[].label
A developmental framework linking neurogenesis and circuit formation in the Drosophila CNS

# publications[].label
A Drosophila larval premotor/motor neuron connectome generating two behaviors via distinct spatio-temporal muscle activity

# publications[].label
Neuromuscular Basis of Drosophila larval rolling escape behavior.

# publications[].label
A premotor microcircuit to generate behavior-specific muscle activation patterns in Drosophila larvae

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Electrophysiological validation of premotor interneurons monosynaptically connected to the aCC motoneuron in the Drosophila larval CNS

# publications[].label
Neuromuscular basis of Drosophila larval rolling escape behavior.

# publications[].publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

# publications[].label
Heterogeneous responses to embryonic critical period perturbations among different components of the Drosophila larval locomotor circuit

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A command-like descending neuron that coordinately activates backward and inhibits forward locomotion

# publications[].label
The Drosophila Larval Locomotor Circuit Provides a Model to Understand Neural Circuit Development and Function.

# publications[].label
Application of a Dual Optogenetic Silencing-Activation Protocol to Map Motor Neurons Driving Rolling Escape Behavior in Drosophila Larvae.

# publications[].label
Neural circuits driving larval locomotion in Drosophila.

# publications[].label
A transcription factor network coordinates attraction, repulsion, and adhesion combinatorially to control motor axon pathway selection.

# publications[].label
Transcriptional regulation of guidance at the midline and in motor circuits.

# publications[].label
Even-Skipped(+) Interneurons Are Core Components of a Sensorimotor Circuit that Maintains Left-Right Symmetric Muscle Contraction Amplitude.

# publications[].label
A multilayer circuit architecture for the generation of distinct locomotor behaviors in Drosophila.

# publications[].label
MDN brain descending neurons coordinately activate backward and inhibit forward locomotion.