Our ability to learn and remember information about our environment is underpinned by synaptic plasticity. This process is fundamental to shaping who we are as individuals and is also implicated in many neurological and psychiatric disorders. Memory is fundamentally dependent on the behavioural context of learnt information and we aim to investigate the contextual factors that are important for the encoding of memory by synaptic plasticity at a neuronal circuit level.

We study this by considering the factors that regulate the induction of synaptic plasticity and the mechanisms underlying its expression. Currently this involves projects in the following areas:

1)      The role of acetylcholine and other neuromodulators in synaptic circuit function.

2)      The patterns of activity that induce synaptic plasticity.

3)      The mechanisms underlying postsynaptic neurotransmitter receptor trafficking.

We use a combination of techniques including in vitro and in vivo electrophysiology, 2-photon imaging, optogenetics, behavioural assays and computational modelling.