The nervous system defines who we are. In the brain, neurons function to shape our thoughts, perceptions and behaviors. In our bodies, neurons control organs to regulate our most basic needs like breathing, heart rate and digestion. In our lab, we seek to understand how neurons sense changes in bodily states to control autonomic functions which maintain human life. For example, artery-innervating neurons detect deviations in blood pH and oxygen levels, and in turn reflexively engage central respiratory circuits that correct breathing rate and blood gas composition on a breath-to-breath basis. Despite their importance, the functional organization and molecular architecture of these essential circuits remain poorly defined, with many body-to-brain pathways still undiscovered. By combining in vitro and in vivo modeling with modern genomic and neuroscience tools, we aim to uncover ground truths about how the body uses the nervous system to safeguard itself from recurring assaults and how these pathways go awry in disease. We focus on understanding this signaling across many biological scales—from neuronal gene regulation, to receptor profiling, to circuit mapping, to whole animal disease modeling and physiology—with the hope of providing new therapeutic avenues to improve human autonomic health.
