Christian Burgess, Ph.D.

The Burgess lab focuses on the neural circuitry underlying learning and behavior.

Specifically, projects focus on how motivation-, arousal-, and feeding-related circuits can modulate higher-order brain areas and their responses to learned cues in the environment.

Current studies are attempting to understand how specific hunger- and sleep-promoting circuits in the hypothalamus can facilitate learning of, and appropriate responses to, motivationally relevant sensory cues.

A combination of techniques and approaches is used to map neural circuits in mice, including neuroanatomy, behavior, optogenetics, and in vivo calcium imaging. The goal is to identify specific neuronal projections, record their activity during motivated behaviors and learning, and manipulate their activity to demonstrate a functional role in behavior.