Sensory-motor processing by subcortical areas

The lab aims to understand how brain process sensory information and how the sensory processing interacts with motor commands. To that end two main lines of research are open. The first one is focus in the basal ganglia, more specifically in the striatum. This nucleus is well known for its role in motor control, and problems in the striatum underlay Parkinson’s or Huntington, among other diseases. Individual striatal neurons can integrate both sensory and motor information. We want to understand the functional role of the striatum in the sensory processing and its interplay with motor functions in health and disease. The second line of research is investigating how homologous cortical areas exchange sensory and motor information between hemispheres. With that purpose, we are using the mouse whisker system, which in addition imposes strong control over the dorsolateral striatum. To answer our questions, we use a big range of physiological, molecular, and behavioral techniques.