Dr. Bizon’s research program is broadly focused on understanding brain aging and its implications for cognitive function. Specifically, her laboratory employs an integrative approach that combines cognitive assessments with molecular, pharmacological and optogenetic methodologies. Recent work has uncovered disruptions in both glutamatergic and GABAergic signaling in the aged brain that contribute to impairments in cognitive flexibility, working memory and decision making (for example, Banuelos et al., 2014; McQuail et al., 2016, Beas et al., 2017). Her lab has also used optogenetic approaches to demonstrate age-associated differences in the neural circuits of decision making (Hernandez et al., 2019).