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Molecular, Genetic, and Behavioral Studies of Somatosensation

Research in the Luo lab is aimed at understanding the neurobiology of somatosensation. Broadly speaking, the lab uses the mouse as a model organism to focus on the following questions:

• What are the functional circuits governing the expression of touch, pain, and itch behaviors, and what are the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying these circuits?
• What salient molecular, behavioral, and cognitive features allow for the differentiation between responses to pain and itch?
• How is somatosensory information coded and conveyed at anatomical, molecular, and circuit levels?
• What molecular and circuit level changes are associated with the manifestation of pathological conditions of pain often seen in human disease?
• What are the molecular and cellular mechanisms regulating the development of somatosensory circuits?

Our work employs a wide variety of cellular and molecular techniques, mouse genetic tools, mouse behavior assays, and physiological recordings to help us answer these questions.