My research focuses on principles underlying how brains wire up complex circuits with extreme precision. To uncover the different molecules and strategies cells use to form such highly organized neural circuits, my lab combines high-resolution imaging techniques with advanced molecular genetics in different model systems to look inside living animals while their neurons form synapses. My research uses invertebrate organisms to identify underlying genetic mechanisms, and vertebrates to investigate common molecular rules. This research will provide insight into how the brain's wiring diagram is encoded within a genome, and how these may go awry in common brain disorders.