Social behaviors are exhibited by a wide range of animal species and are of ubiquitous adaptive value; many social behaviors, such as aggression, pair bonding, and mating, are essential for the health, survival, and reproduction of animals. The control of social behavior is of vital importance in social species such as humans; impairment in social function is a prominent feature of several neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism and schizophrenia. However, despite its importance, many fundamental questions regarding the neural mechanisms underlying social behavior and its disorders still remain unanswered. One central question is how neural circuits, important computing units in the brain, process and integrate information for the decision and execution of specific social behaviors. To address this question, the Hong lab applies a multidisciplinary approach to investigating social behavior, using techniques including but not limited to:

• Single-cell RNA-seq and bioinformatics to comprehensively identify and characterize diverse neuronal cell types in social behavior circuits and their molecular profiles with single-cell resolution.

• Optogenetics and chemogenetics to manipulate neuronal circuit activities in different neuronal subtypes in different social behaviors, to determine their causal roles, and to map their functional connections.

• Fiber photometry, miniscope imaging, and neural computation to map neural network activities during social behaviors and to uncover the encoding of sensory processing and behavioral decisions in neuronal ensembles.

• Advanced engineering technology and machine learning to make the analysis of social behaviors more efficient, objective, quantitative, and ethologically relevant.

Biography