Mark Schnitzer

The ability of an infant to distinguish caregivers from strangers is fundamental for survival early in life. Across
many taxa, newborns use olfactory cues to recognize caregivers. Caregiver odors induce proximity-seeking
behavior and alleviate stress in neonatal mammals, including humans. Since all altricial animals rely on parental
care for survival and children with developmental disorders (e.g., fragile X syndrome and autism) often have
deficits in the olfactory system, it is essential to understand the mechanisms for linking caregiver odors with
affiliative behavior.

This team aims to better understand how Parkinson's disease attacks the brain's basic motor programs and to spawn novel therapies against the disease using gene-editing technology.

Calcium imaging in freely behaving animals allows for the tracking of neuronal activity under approximately normal behavioral conditions. However, the slow response time of calcium imaging inhibits high resolution voltage and temporal measurements. To address this issue, modern molecular tools have been developed to optically report the high-speed dynamics of neurons more accurately.