My research focuses on the mechanisms that allow the nervous system to modify sensory processing and motor output depending on the current internal state. To this end, I use invertebrate models because of the numerical simplicity of their nervous system, their robustness as experimental subjects and their astonishing behavioral diversity. Using molecular, anatomical, electrophysiological and behavioral techniques, I examine the mechanisms by which the internal state of an animal alters brain function and how these mechanisms have changed over evolutionary time.
