Research Focus
My lab studies the neural circuits that underlie the production of animal vocalizations. In particular, we study how and when mice produce ultrasonic vocalizations, which they use during courtship and other types of social interactions. First, we aim to understand how brains encode information about social context, which allows an animal to decide which type of vocalization to produce, or whether or not to vocalize in the first place. Second, whether you’re a mouse or a human, vocalizing requires the coordination of vocal muscle movements with respiration, and we are studying how this coordination is achieved by groups of brainstem neurons in the mouse. Finally, we are interested in better understanding how mouse ultrasonic vocalizations act as communication signals, and how this process might go awry in mouse models of human disorders that are characterized by communication deficits, such as autism spectrum disorder. To address these questions, we use optogenetic and chemogenetic manipulations of neural activity, in vivo imaging of neuronal calcium dynamics, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, and measurements of vocalization and other social behaviors.
In the news
- Mouse social calls and distress calls linked to different neurons
- Cornell Center for Social Sciences names 14 faculty fellows
- Mouse pups cry for help most urgently while active
- New Frontier Grants push boundaries in A&S research
- Lonely mice more vocal, more social after isolation
- Agarwal, Rush, Tschida, Udell win Sloan Fellowships
- Center’s grants seed diverse research in the social sciences
