Viviana Gradinaru MD

Prof. Gradinaru's work has focused on developing and using optogenetics (Gradinaru et al., Cell, 2010) and tissue clearing (Chung et al., Nature, 2013; Yang et al., Cell, 2014; Treweek et al., Nat.Prot, 2015) to dissect the circuitry underlying neurological disorders such as Parkinson's (Gradinaru et al., Science, 2009). Her group is now working to understand how perturbations of neuronal network activity can permanently impact the function and even viability of comprising neurons and ultimately change network properties and animal behavior. Of particular interest to the Gradinaru laboratory are chronic experiences, subtle but persistent actions on brain networks that can cause lasting changes in the structure and function of individual cells and circuits. Examples include depressive states (it takes weeks of exposure to modest but repeating nuisances to generate an animal model of depression) or Deep Brain Stimulation as used in brain disorders, where electrical stimulation of defined brain areas can improve behavior and this effect can, remarkably, outlive the stimulation.