https://www.lockerylab.org/home daily 1.0 2023-08-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f4013aec21c3a0e0ef3a942/1600803192256-ULX5CE75S57065C0KGHQ/MAX_npr19GFP_cho1mCherry_body_9.png Home - Our research We study how the nervous system controls behavior by analyzing the simple neural networks that control spatial orientation and decision making in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. C. elegans has a small nervous system (302 neurons), whose neurons and connectivity pattern have been exhaustively characterized. Together with an entirely sequenced genome and high accessibility to genetic analysis, this organism provides a unique opportunity to study the neural, molecular, and genetic basis of intelligent behavior. Our research integrates a wide range of approaches, including quantitative analysis of behavior, neuronal ablation, computer modeling, electrophysiology, calcium imaging, optogenetics, and microfluidics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f4013aec21c3a0e0ef3a942/9eab123e-223e-4e99-b0d5-2efdb4b39192/IMG_4477+%281%29.jpeg https://www.lockerylab.org/contact daily 0.75 2021-09-13 https://www.lockerylab.org/resources daily 0.75 2022-03-08 https://www.lockerylab.org/publications daily 0.75 2023-12-14 https://www.lockerylab.org/research daily 0.75 2023-08-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f4013aec21c3a0e0ef3a942/1601255222113-PXYSL86NILG1K1SKWBDX/PastedGraphic-2.png Reseacrh - Neuroeconomics Twin studies show that differences in decision making are partially explained by genetic factors. However, establishing the causality of particular decision making genes has been challenging. We have recently shown that C. elegans makes value-based decisions (choices between options based on an internal assessment of their "subjective value"). We are now developing C. elegans as a new model system for the functional analysis of decision making genes in a small circuit of neurons found to be necessary for value-based decision making. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f4013aec21c3a0e0ef3a942/1600223994826-6FWIFMBQEBN37IES6N0G/LevichevStacy.jpg Reseacrh - Endocannabinoids and decision making Endocannabinoid signaling is an ancient and highly conserved system that plays a critical role in energy balance and homeostasis in many animal species. We utilize C. elegans to study how the endocannabinoid system regulates appetite and feeding decisions, including the molecular pathways and neural circuits through which endocannabionoids modify behavior. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f4013aec21c3a0e0ef3a942/1691707197829-A6AJQ76GTEMAD07166CR/image-asset.jpeg Reseacrh - Psychedelics and mental health Growing clinical evidence suggests that psychedelics are effective in the treatment of many psychiatric diseases but further development of these drugs is necessary to make them widely available. We investigate the genetic basis of psychedelic effects on behavior and neuroanatomy in C. elegans. The goal of this project is to deepen our understanding of the mode of action of psychedelic drugs, a critical step in making them safer and more effective in the treatment of psychiatric disease. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f4013aec21c3a0e0ef3a942/1601501540408-42CSXGWDOAMZIK8KBPM5/IMG_3801.jpg Reseacrh - Technique development The Lockery lab has a long track record of coming up with novel techniques in electrophysiology, calcium imaging, molecular genetics, microfluidics, behavior and more. Recent highlights include microfluidic devices for electrical measures of nematode health and a microfluidic device for DNA injections in microorganisms. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f4013aec21c3a0e0ef3a942/dce57580-feb1-4e16-92f1-3c4431375678/IVB+logo+vertical.jpg https://www.lockerylab.org/lab-members daily 0.75 2023-10-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f4013aec21c3a0e0ef3a942/1601426653687-K37PY4FSDJCGJC0QCVQJ/IMG_3555.jpg Lab members - SERGE FAUMONT, PhD Research Associate SERGE FAUMONT, PhD Research Scientist sfaumont (at) uoregon [dot] edu Serge received his initial training in electrophysiology on the lobster stomatogastric ganglion, studying motor pattern selection. Since then, his research has focused on understanding the genetic and neural basis of behavior in C. elegans, using a range of experimental approaches including quantitative analysis of behavior, molecular biology, electrophysiology (patch clamp, electropharyngeograms), modeling, calcium imaging and optogenetics. In his most recent work, he has been using a neuroeconomic framework to understand value-based decision making. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f4013aec21c3a0e0ef3a942/1601169908824-YFHRH0X4J5CCUNHE5OYI/IMG_3661.jpg Lab members - JONATHAN M.R. MILLET, PhD Post-doctoral Fellow JONATHAN M.R. MILLET, PhD Post-doctoral Fellow jmillet (at) uoregon [dot] edu Jonathan received his PhD in genetics and molecular biology from Denis Dupuy’s Lab at the University of Bordeaux in 2015, where he worked on alternative splicing in C. elegans. After that, he worked at Valeria Vasquez’s Lab at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, characterizing the mechano-sensitive channel Piezo. Jonathan is currently working on developing the multiEPG system with the hope of soon using it for a genome-wide association study. He would like to apply his background in molecular biology, neurophysiology, and behavior to study the genetic basis of decision-making and determinism. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f4013aec21c3a0e0ef3a942/1601426710739-QSBZUKN8TPDRBCODCG7K/IMG_3639.jpg Lab members - KATHY CHICAS-CRUZ Research Assistant KATHY CHICAS-CRUZ Laboratory Technician chicas (at) uoregon [dot] edu Kathy received her BA in biology and Spanish from the University of Oregon. She spent 16 years at the UO Institute of Molecular Biology as a research assistant studying ATPase and cytochrome oxidase and several years working at the transgenic mouse facility. She has been with the Lockery lab since 2009, working as our worm wrangler, geneticist, and molecular biologist extraordinaire, making all of our transgenic worm lines. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f4013aec21c3a0e0ef3a942/1602290615440-20Z9BRNJJYG1N5JPR840/IMG_3975.jpg Lab members - SHAWN LOCKERY, PhD Professor, Department of Biology SHAWN LOCKERY, PhD Professor, Department of Biology shawn (at) uoregon [dot] edu As an undergraduate in philosophy of mind at Yale University, Shawn became interested in studying how the mind actually works. This interest led him to neuroscience, including post-baccalaureate training with Denis Noble in Philosophy, Psychology, and Physiology at Oxford University. He received his Ph.D. in a neurobiology from the University of California, San Diego, where he worked on escape reflexes in the medicinal leech under the guidance of William Kristan and Nicholas Spitzer. He received post-doctoral training in computational neuroscience with Terrance Sejnowski at the Salk Institute, where he also started working on spatial orientation behaviors in C. elegans. In 1993, Shawn established his own lab at the University of Oregon, first tackling the problem of how to record electrically from identified neurons in C. elegans. His current research focuses on the neuronal basis of economic decision making in C. elegans and how it is altered by drugs of abuse. In 2011, he and University of Oregon colleague Janis Weeks founded InVivo Biosystems, Inc. based on microfluidic devices for nematode electrophysiology developed in his laboratory. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f4013aec21c3a0e0ef3a942/40612ac9-11d3-463a-b2e2-709d6b9db1a8/PXL_20230907_231319772.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f4013aec21c3a0e0ef3a942/964cc135-c799-49d5-ae40-c6cfd5da1ff8/blank-profile-picture-973460_1280.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f4013aec21c3a0e0ef3a942/8e15360b-cf88-4beb-8060-d560fbd9fcda/IMG_4499.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f4013aec21c3a0e0ef3a942/17373146-a111-4e37-8f73-2f962c30699a/Alanna.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f4013aec21c3a0e0ef3a942/da5630db-4e26-4747-b8d4-48b2f48dfc52/Image.jpeg+%281%29.jpg https://www.lockerylab.org/microfluidics daily 0.75 2021-01-14 https://www.lockerylab.org/media daily 0.75 2023-12-14 https://www.lockerylab.org/take-action daily 0.75 2025-05-09