John Assad
Professor of Neurobiology, HMS
Our laboratory utilizes a combination of behavioral, electrophysiological, optical and computational approaches in mice to explore the neuronal mechanisms underlying the initiation of voluntary movements. Fundamentally, we are asking the question of what “goes off’ in the brain when we make self-initiated movements. The question is not only interesting from a philosophical standpoint, it has important implications for movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.