William Schafer

Elucidating the mechanisms by which nervous systems process information and generate behaviour is among the fundamental problems of biology. Ultimately, it is desirable to understand these processes at the most basic level, that of molecules and cells.

We are investigating these questions using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, which has an anatomically simple and well-defined nervous system and is tractable to molecular and classical genetic analysis.

Using a range of approaches, including optogenetic neuroimaging, high content behavioural phenotyping, and electrophysiological analysis of heterologously-expressed receptors and channels, we hope to uncover fundamental principles of nervous system function at the molecular and circuit levels.

At the molecular level, we are particularly interested in identifying the molecules responsible for ionotropic sensory transduction, which underlies the senses of touch, hearing, sour and salt taste, and pain, and discovering how they couple sensory stimuli to the control of neuronal activity. At the circuit level, we have focused on understanding how monoamine and peptide neuromodulators, often acting extrasynaptically, control brain states and mediate neural plasticity and learning. We are also applying network science approaches to probe the structures of synaptic and extrasnaptic connectomes, with the aim of understanding conserved computational principles implemented in larger and more complex brains.