Matt Carter

Scholarship/Creative Work

To ensure that an animal obtains an optimal amount of sleep, food, and water, the brain must sense the internal and external environment and influence behavior by producing sensations we describe as “tired/awake,” “hungry/full,” and “thirsty/quenched.”  The ultimate goal of my lab is to elucidate the neural basis of these homeostatic systems.  Which neural populations and neural networks in the brain play an important role in maintaining homeostasis, and how does their activity affect animal physiology and behavior?

To address these questions, my lab combines mouse behavioral experiments with a variety of approaches.  Neuroanatomical and electrophysiological methods demonstrate which brain regions are active during specific behavioral states.  Cutting-edge optogenetic and chemogenetic methods allow us the ability to stimulate or inhibit specific neurons in the brain in a freely moving, behaving animal to test hypotheses about the role of these neurons in behavior.

By taking an integrative approach and performing experiments at the behavioral, anatomical, physiological, and molecular levels of investigation, we hope to make substantial contributions to understanding these homeostatic behaviors, and ultimately how they affect the health of the entire organism.