The Korzus lab studies medial prefrontal cortex circuit-level mechanisms that support fear discrimination learning, including how maladaptation in prefrontal circuits leads to neuropsychiatric vulnerability. Their studies combine multiple techniques, including large-scale neuronal dynamics imaging, mouse molecular genetics, behavior, electrophysiology, optogenetics, and computational analytics. The lab recently developed in vivo calcium imaging of the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus using head-mounted microscopes that measure fluorescent signals of neuronal activation in thousands of cortical cells in freely moving mice during weeks of behavior. These head-mounted microscopes offer to dramatically improve investigations of neural assemblies and provide unmatched insights into understanding neural circuit dynamics by enabling real-time stable recordings in large numbers of neurons in the living brain.

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