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Our Research / Former Labs
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Former Labs
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View the web pages of former Janelia labs:

Baker Lab Bock Lab Cardona Lab
Chklovskii Lab Clayton Lab Cui Lab
Dickson Lab Druckmann Lab Eddy/Rivas Lab
Egnor Lab Fetter Lab Freeman Lab
Gonen Lab Grigorieff Lab Gustafsson Lab
Hantman Lab Huston Lab Jain Lab
Ji Lab Kainmueller Lab Keleman Lab
Kerr Lab Koyama Lab Lee Lab
Leonardo Lab Looger Lab Magee Lab
Menon Lab Murphy Lab Myers Lab
Pastalkova Lab Pavlopoulos Lab Peng Lab
Podgorski Lab Riddiford Lab Rinberg Lab
Simpson Lab Sternson Lab Svoboda Lab
Truman Lab Tjian Lab Zlatic Lab
Zuker Lab

Baker Lab

2008 - 2016

We study the genetic basis of the neural circuits underlying innate behaviors and how these circuits function in the behaving animal. We use the mating behavior of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model.

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Bock Lab

2011 - 2019

Multiterabyte electron microscopy image volumes containing the neuronal circuits of interest are generated using high-throughput electron microscopy of serial thin sections. The arbors of selected neurons and the synaptic connections between them are then mapped, and the resulting 'wiring diagram' is analyzed in the context of circuit function.

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Cardona Lab

 2012 -  2019

The pathways of information flow and the properties of neurons and glia constrain the computational capabilities of the nervous system. In our lab, we are mapping the wiring diagram, with synaptic resolution, of the complete nervous system of the larval Drosophila. And, in the context of known circuitry, we study the neural basis of behavior using electrophysiology, optogenetics and modeling.

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Chklovskii Lab

 2007 -  2014

How does electrical activity in neuronal circuits give rise to intelligent behavior? To answer this question, we are pursuing two synergistic research directions.

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Clayton Lab

 2008 - 2014

Our laboratory has a long-standing and continuing interest in this extrachromosomal genome, mainly in the areas of mtDNA replication and transcription.

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Cui Lab

2010 - 2015

The advance of optical technologies has revolutionized a broad range of biomedical research fields. During the past two decades, novel optical imaging techniques have been developed to provide unprecedented resolution, sensitivity, and speed. However, the optical penetration depth in tissues remains very limited.

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Dickson Lab

We use molecular genetic techniques to study the function of neural circuits in Drosophila. Our goal is to understand how information processing in defined neural circuits generates complex animal behaviours. As a model system, we focus on the fly’s matin

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Druckmann Lab

 2013 -  2017

What makes one’s brain a brain? Our lab is interested in elucidating the relationship between behavior and the underlying neuronal circuit structure and neural population dynamics.

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Eddy/Rivas Lab

 2006 -  2015

Genome sequences are now known for thousands of different species. We are at a remarkable time in biology where at last we can look at the "source code" for life—the DNA sequences that specify development, regulation, and function of organisms—but we are still far from adequately understanding how to read this vast trove of encoded information or being able to reconstruct how it evolved.

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Egnor Lab

 2008 - 2015

Roian Egnor uses multi-generational groups of socially-housed mice to study the neural basis of complex vocal and social behavior.

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Fetter Lab

2012 - 2015

The Fetter lab is interested in developing tools and techniques to faithfully preserve the in vivo biological structure and maximize information content at nanometer resolution for the next generation of Drosophila EM connectomes.

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Freeman Lab

 2014 -  2016

Exploring neural computation in behaving animals at the scale of large populations and entire brains, through a combination of collaborative data analysis and experimental design across multiple model systems, and developing technology for modern computational science.

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Gonen Lab

 2011 - 2018

Our laboratory studies the structures of membrane proteins important in homeostasis and signaling. We develop new tools in structural biology, namely MicroED as a new method for cryo EM, to facilitate the study of such membrane proteins to atomic resolution from vanishingly small crystals.

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Grigorieff Lab

2013 -  2020

The Grigorieff Lab developed high-resolution electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) to study the atomic structures of biomolecules and their assemblies.

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Gustafsson Lab

 2008 -  2011

The Gustafsson Lab was dedicated to creating new forms of light microscopy for biological imaging.

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Hantman Lab

2010 -  2021

The Hantman lab investigated how top-down feedback affects sensory processing. In particular, how cortical output influences proprioceptive streams in the brain.

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Huston Lab

2010 -  2022

Studying the interface between sensory and motor systems by combining electrophysiology, behavioral experiments and genetic tools.

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Jain Lab

 2011 -  2014

Electron microscopy (EM) is still the best technique for producing data from which one can unambiguously determine the complete synaptic connectivity of neuronal assemblies.

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Ji Lab

 2011 -  2018

We develop optical methods for in vivo imaging and apply these methods to structural and functional studies of neural circuits.

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Kainmueller Lab

 2016 - 2018

The lab will focus on automated reconstruction and identification of neurons in EM and light microscopic image data of the fly brain, where the goal is to exploit prior knowledge about global neuron shapes. This will enable biologists to find specific neurons of interest efficiently in huge EM volumes. Furthermore, it will be exciting to map circuits known from EM onto functional acquisitions to be able to observe known circuits in action. Therefore, the respective specific cell bodies have to be identified in functional imaging data.

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Keleman Lab

2013 -  2022

How does an organism compute its behavior?  The Keleman lab seeks to understand this process of behavioral plasticity by studying a specific form of learning and memory in Drosophila at the molecular, cellular and circuit levels.

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Kerr Lab

 2006 -  2013

How does an organism compute its behavior?  The Kerr lab seeks to answer this question for one of the simplest model organisms, the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans.

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Koyama Lab

2014 - 2020

Our goal is to find simple sets of rules that can explain the organization of neuronal circuits in a broad range of systems.

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Lee Lab

2009 - 2022

We are keen to determine the cellular complexity of the brain, to elucidate how numerous distinct neurons can derive from a limited number of progenitors, and to possibly reengineer the brain for understanding its structure, function and evolution.

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Leonardo Lab

2014 - 2020

Our lab is interested in general principles underlying neural information processing. The broad aim of our work is to understand the computations neural circuits implement, how robust they are, and how different circuits are linked into systems to produce behaviors. These questions are pursued in the context of prey capture in the salamander and the dragonfly.

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Looger Lab

2006 - 2021

Loren Looger uses protein engineering to create tools – including neurotransmitter detectors, improved labels for in vivo imaging, designed receptors, and rewired neural circuits – to study the brain. His lab will combine computational and evolutionary methods to create new reagents to characterize and manipulate the assembly and function of neural circuits

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Magee Lab

 2006 - 2018

Our ultimate goal is to provide a mechanistic understanding of a behaviorally relevant brain function.

To this end we are attempting to produce biophysically based explanations of the information-processing and storage capabilities of single and small networks of neurons. We use a variety of optical (two-photon transmitter uncaging, single and two-photon ChR2/NpHR activation, two photon Ca2+ imaging) and electrical (dual whole-cell recordings, cell-attached and outside-out patches) techniques in the various projects.

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Menon Lab

 2016 - 2018

Simultaneous advances in biochemical techniques and computing power in the early 21st century have transformed the field of biology by allowing for the generation of comprehensive large-scale molecular datasets. At Janelia, we will characterize cell types in the brain using transcriptome-wide data from single cells and small populations of cells to uncover the molecular grammar underlying the components of the nervous system and their connections. Ultimately, linking gene expression and epigenetic information to other phenotypes – including lineage, neuronal connectivity, and cell-cell communication – is crucial to understanding the control of neuronal identity.

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Murphy Lab

 2009 - 2015

Determining the properties and salience of sensory cues is fundamental to the survival and characteristic behavior of most, if not all, organisms. Our lab identifies mechanisms that underlie the sensitivity and selectivity with which neurons in the mammalian nervous system respond to visual stimuli.

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Myers Lab

 2005 - 2012

The Myers Lab is developing algorithms and software for the automatic interpretation of images produced by light and electron microscopy of stained samples, with an emphasis on building 3D and 4D "atlases" of brains, developing organisms, and cellular processes.

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Pastalkova Lab

 2010 - 2016

The hippocampus is the region of the brain that is necessary for the formation and storage of episodic memories - unique events we experience in our lives as "I just met my best friend and we went for a walk." We study what firing patterns of hippocampal neurons are responsible for encoding and recall of these memories.

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Pavlopoulos Lab

2013 - 2019

Probing the molecular and cellular basis of developmental morphogenesis.

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Peng Lab

2007 - 2012

Hanchuan Peng develops bioimage analysis and informatics techniques. He uses these techniques to mine and fuse knowledge from three-dimensional animal brain images, at both micrometer and nanometer scales. His group is building 3D neuronal atlases of brains – incorporating neuron distribution, projection, and connection statistics and mapping functional data of neurons.

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Podgorski Lab

2016 - 2021

The brain computes using neurons that each integrate thousands of inputs to determine their firing output. We are developing tools to record those input patterns at high speed, to study computations that occur in individual neurons during behavior.

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Riddiford Lab

 2007 - 2016

We are interested in how the developmental hormones, ecdysone and juvenile hormone, interact to allow and orchestrate metamorphosis.

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Rinberg Lab

 2006 - 2012

Our lab is using electrophysiology, optogenetics, and psychophysics to understand the principles of sensory information processing. Specifically, we are focused on two questions: 1) how is odor information coded in the brain of the awake, behaving mouse? And 2) how is information relevant to animal behavior extracted by the brain? In short, we want to know what the mouse’s nose tells its brain.

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Simpson Lab

2006 - 2015

We use genetic tools and screening strategies to identify the specific neurons necessary and sufficient to control grooming and feeding, behaviors which were chosen for their sequential progression and cue integration properties.

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Sternson Lab

2007 - 2021

The Neurobiology of Need. How does the brain encode motivations? The lab develops cutting-edge molecular and systems neuroscience approaches in order to understand the neurobiology of survival needs, such as hunger and thirst. These insights offer a foundation for treatment of major biomedical challenges faced by society, such as obesity and diabetes.

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2006 - 2021

Svoboda Lab

Neurons in the cerebral cortex and connected brain areas produce electrical signals that process information. These signals resemble tunes, each with its own melody, timbre and rhythm. Neurons and their tunes organize into orchestras which ultimately produce our perception of the world and our actions within it. We want to understand how large collections of cortical neurons organize dynamically to process information and produce behavior.

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Truman Lab

Our research is focused on the neurons of the larval CNS.

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Tjian Lab

 2009 -  2016

Robert Tjian is interested in the biochemistry of gene regulation in humans and animals. In particular, what is the nature of the molecular machinery that controls the turning up and down of gene expression in human cells, and how does disruption of this highly regulated process lead to various disease states?

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Zlatic Lab

2009 - 2019

Marta Zlatic studies the neural and genetic basis of behavior, including sensory processing, decision making, and motor production in Drosophila larvae.

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Zuker Lab

 2009 - 2015

Our long-term goal is to elucidate mechanisms used for signal transduction and information processing in sensory systems and to understand how the senses create an internal representation of the outside world.

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