Research & Initiatives

We study effects of chronic spinal cord injury on reflex generators in the spinal cord that control sexual and bladder function in rodent models.

We investigate the neural mechanisms by which social experiences influence vulnerability for drug addiction using rodent models. And we study the neurobiology of reward memory.

Our lab investigates the neuronal pathways that control reproductive endocrine function using the sheep as a model. In particular, we investigate the mechanisms by which distinct cell populations in the hypothalamus control pulsatile and surge secretion of gonadotropin releasing hormone. 

We investigate how changes to cells in the brain that control fertility, termed KNDy neurons, lead to polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), the most common cause of infertility in women worldwide.  To achieve this, we use a murine model of PCOS combined with cutting-edge anatomical and functional tools that permit the analysis of brain circuitry.