Research

FUNDAMENTAL research

  • Interoception and the regulation of emotions and behavior
  • Physiology of the insular cortex
  • Brain-body interactions and gut brain axis in psychiatric and metabolic disorders
  • Cortical glucose and metabolism sensing
  • Central control of energy balance and feeding behavior
  • Optical methods to study the brain

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 translational research

  • Role of the insular cortex and interoception in mood and anxiety disorders
  • Involvement of the insula in fronto-temporal dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders
  • Translational brain mapping across imaging modalities and animal species
  • High-throughput human brain mapping
  • Digital neuropathology and brain bank digitization
  • Neuroimaging and peripheral biomarkers for psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders

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methods

  • Whole organ imaging – human tissue clearing - light-sheet microscopy - 2-photon microscopy
  • High-throughput neurohistology
  • Live cell imaging - freely moving imaging
  • Optogenetics – chemogenetics
  • Automated behavioral analysis
  • Neuronal circuit mapping
  • Genetic mouse models
  • Transcriptomic analysis

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

  • Anxiety - Depression
  • Functional disorders
  • Neurodegenerative diseases
  • Eating disorders
  • Obesity - Diabetes