Overview
My lab studies neural circuit basis of sensory perception.
Specifically we are interested in determining neural circuits underlying (1) active touch sensation including tactile processing stream and motor control of touch sensors on the face; (2) pain sensation including both sensory-discriminative and affective aspects of pain; and (3) general anesthesia including the active pain-suppression process. We use a combination of genetic, viral, electrophysiology, and in vivo imaging (in free-moving animals) techniques to study these questions.
Specifically we are interested in determining neural circuits underlying (1) active touch sensation including tactile processing stream and motor control of touch sensors on the face; (2) pain sensation including both sensory-discriminative and affective aspects of pain; and (3) general anesthesia including the active pain-suppression process. We use a combination of genetic, viral, electrophysiology, and in vivo imaging (in free-moving animals) techniques to study these questions.
Current Duke Appointments & Affiliations
Adjunct Professor in the Department of Neurobiology
·
2021 - Present
Neurobiology,
Basic Science Departments
Faculty Network Member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences
·
2008 - Present
Duke Institute for Brain Sciences,
University Institutes and Centers
Affiliate of the Duke Regeneration Center
·
2021 - Present
Duke Regeneration Center,
Basic Science Departments
Recent Scholarly Works
Peri-head distance coding in the mouse brainstem.
Journal article Neuron · June 25, 2026 Perceiving the location of nearby objects relative to the body is essential for guiding movement and avoiding danger. Many organisms use touch to estimate object distance, yet how somatosensory circuits extract distance from tactile inputs remains unclear. ... Full text Link to item CiteThe rewarding crunch: A brainstem circuit links incisor mechanosensation to motivated gnawing.
Journal article Neuron · June 3, 2026 Gnawing maintains ever-growing rodent incisors, yet the underlying circuit has remained unknown. In this issue of Neuron, Su et al.1 identify brainstem Sst⁺ neurons linking incisor mechanosensation to jaw motoneurons and mesolimbic reward, thereby revealin ... Full text Link to item CiteMultimodal analysis reveals cellular diversity and divergent circuits of the zona incerta.
Journal article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · May 5, 2026 The zona incerta (ZI) plays an important role in diverse behavioral functions and is an emerging clinical target for deep brain stimulation to treat neurological conditions. Despite their importance, the cell type composition of the ZI and the anatomical c ... Full text Link to item CiteRecent Grants
Medical Scientist Training Program
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEMentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 1997 - 2022Reverse engineering the brain stem circuits that govern exploratory behavior
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of California - San Diego · 2020 - 2020Markerless Tracking of 3D Posture to Reveal the Sensory Origins of Body Schema
FellowshipPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2020 - 2020View All Grants
Education
Columbia University ·
1998
Ph.D.