A Behavioral Neuroscience Lab in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College
Serotonin modulation of dysregulated reward behavior
The Nautiyal Lab is interested in understanding how serotonin modulates neural circuits that subserve reward-related behaviors, especially those dysregulated in psychiatric conditions that include increased impulsivity and depression.
Genetic and viral strategies to probe neural circuits
Using transgenic mouse lines and viral-vector induced loss-of-function manipulations, we investigate the effect of serotonin signaling on impulsive behavior and the underlying neural circuits.
Quantitative behavioral phenotyping
Our lab is focused on the careful analysis of behavior in rodent models. We use instrumental behavior paradigms to measure a number of different facets of impulsive and reward-related behavior.
In vivo calcium and GRAB-5-HT imaging
Using state-of-the-art technology, we can visualize the activity of large populations of neurons at the single-cell level as well as the serotonin levels, in awake behaving mice. We use miniature microendoscopes and fiber photometry to view fluorescence emitted from biosensors.