Research

The Jasnow Lab seeks to understand how brain circuits control agonistic behavior, learning and memory. We are most interested in brain mechanisms controlling how animals, including humans, learn about fear and how these memories are processed, stored, reorganized, and recalled to control emotional behavior. We use complex behavioral analyses that include classical conditioning, operant behavior, and avoidance. We combine these behavioral analyses with whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology, in vivo electrophysiology during behavior, chemogenetics and optogenetics to control neural circuit activity, and biosensing using photometry.

We strive to understand how brain systems, genes, and neurotransmitters interact to regulate adaptive and maladaptive emotional behaviors to identify common mechanisms of mental health and disease. Our research is relevant to human anxiety disorders, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and disorders of learning and memory.