How do nervous systems evaluate sensory inputs, recognize and learn new stimuli, and make behavioral decisions? In the mouse, the study of such questions benefits from advantages of the olfactory system: mice are particularly "trainable" with odors while also exhibit diverse natural behaviors, odors represent a huge library of "levers" with which to probe circuits and behavior, and many key steps in recognition and decision making happen in relatively shallow layers of processing.

My laboratory focuses on a few key goals:

• How is "olfactory coding space" organized? (Calcium imaging, genomics, computation, and theory). The advent of AlphaFold presents a remarkable opportunity to predict, test, and organize our understanding of the relationship between ligands and their receptors. With hundreds of G-protein coupled receptors, olfaction presents a giant "playground" in which we can explore how evolution shaped interactions in a sensory landscape.
• How is innate behavior driven by sensory inputs and circuits? (Behavior, calcium imaging, chemistry, manipulations like knockouts, opto- and chemo-genetics). Our laboratory has discovered many of the pheromones that drive mouse social behavior. We explore mechanisms that control behavior from the receptor proteins to the circuits that affect fertility and aggression.
• How does learning change the representation of sensory information? (Behavior, calcium imaging, computation and theory). The olfactory system represents a rare opportunity to study neuronal plasticity in a circuit demonstrated to be necessary and sufficient for learning. We seek to understand how cellular changes sculpt systems-level representations.
• New technologies for neuroscience: (optics, instrumentation, coding, molecular biology, mathematics). Our laboratory was one of the inventors of light-sheet microscopy, and invented PhOTseq, a high-throughput means to identify gene expression based on neuronal function. We also develop new computational approaches for dimensionality reduction, classification, and other analyses.

• Lab Website

An expert is someone who has made every possible mistake. My laboratory offers a safe space to become an expert, encouraging risk-taking, an environment that will challenge you to refine how you think about science, and an opportunity to develop your technical skills. Because my lab bridges from science to instrumentation to math and coding, trainees have the opportunity to develop broadly. An unusual feature of the training environment in my lab stems from my extensive contributions to open-source software (https://github.com/timholy), and trainees can expect the opportunity to learn to grow their impact through open science.

As a former program director, I am keenly interested in supporting young scientists of all backgrounds. Our past experiences shape how we think, and we all benefit when diverse minds join forces to tackle challenging problems.