Plasticity and remodeling of neural circuits

We study a fundamental question in neuroscience: how neuronal circuits are refined by environmental cues to produce adaptive behaviors? Circuit refinements involve maturation of selected synaptic connections and elimination (“pruning”) of others and are most prominent during critical periods—a stage of postnatal brain development when synapses have a high potential for undergoing plasticity. This malleability allows early experience to modify the architecture of neural circuits, providing a foundation for future learning. Perhaps more importantly, it shapes (often permanently) the cognitive, social and emotional abilities of an individual so it can adapt to the environment at hand. Critical periods are of medical relevance as well because some types of experience-dependent wiring no longer occur after they end, or when the proteins and genes supporting this wiring work incorrectly.