Invited Lecture – Lisa Stowers

How does the brain detect and transform sensory information into appropriate behavior? During social behavior, the brain must simultaneously and rapidly perform a variety of neural computations such as those that determine the identity and meaning of the sensed cues, gauge internal state, remember previous experience, and command muscle action. However, without knowing all aspects of what the brain is computing, studying where and how each of these computations occur has proven difficult. The Stowers lab is identifying and leveraging the ability of specialized olfactory cues, pheromones, to specifically activate and therefore identify and study courtship circuits in the mouse. These circuits are models to identify general circuit principles (specific brain nodes and information flow) that are common to all individuals, and to additionally study how experience, gender, age, and internal state modulate and personalize behavior.