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Function and flexibility in behavioral circuits

Environment, experience and the biology of the brain interact to shape an animal's behavior. Caenorhabditis elegans, a worm with just 302 neurons, shows an unexpected sophistication in its behaviors, making it an ideal subject in which to study these interactions. Our laboratory investigates how the worm's neural circuits function to generate directed behaviors, identifies relevant genes and neural pathways, and asks how external sensory inputs, internal motivational states, and genetic differences between individuals regulate those circuits.