Research

The Sur laboratory develops novel experimental and computational methods for analyzing brain activity, and uses them to study the development, plasticity and dynamics of circuits in the cerebral cortex of the brain.

The developing brain requires a genetic blueprint but is also acutely sensitive to experience and the environment. The brain is shaped by learning and memory, and its function is importantly modulated by internal states such as attention, through dynamic changes in information transmission and processing.

Brain processing is enabled by circuits comprised of excitatory and inhibitory neurons along with astrocytes, which are wired during development by mechanisms of plasticity and change during adulthood by mechanisms of learning and memory. Abnormal wiring of synapses and circuits lies at the core of many brain disorders.

The goal of our laboratory is to define rules of synaptic and circuit plasticity in the developing cortex, and dynamics of activity in the adult cortex during information processing and learned behavior. We aim to utilize this understanding to discover mechanisms of brain disorders and propose novel therapeutics.

Our laboratory studies these topics using state-of-the-art techniques. These include novel approaches for recording the activity and analyzing the function of neurons, astrocytes, synapses and circuits of the cerebral cortex in vivo and in vitro, combined with molecular approaches to study synaptic plasticity and computational approaches to study information processing and dynamics.

Our research is funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health [BRAIN Initiative, NEI, NINDS, NIMH], the National Science Foundation, the Multi-University Research Initiative (MURI), and the Simons Foundation.