The brain is a complex organ and has evolved to improve its responses to the environment of individual animals and thus increase the animal’s level of survivability. Studying how the individual animal learns of its changing environment and takes the appropriate action is an important approach in learning the true nature of the brain.

With a focus on the olfactory system, we study the brain’s sensory system (how an animal learns of their surrounding environment), behavioral system (how an animal makes its decisions) and plasticity mechanism (how an animal adapts to the changing environment). The olfactory system is a fundamental sense, affecting our emotions and feelings, and ultimately influencing our actions. By maximizing the potential ability of the olfactory system, we hope to uncover the brain’s plastic ability to make actions based on the changing environment and determine the underlying mechanisms involved including emotion, motivation and the link between individuals. We use a variety of research methods including electrophysiological examinations of freely-behaving animals and brain slices, brain imaging, optogenetics, and cellular and molecular-level analysis.