Junchul Kim

A fundamental challenge for both basic and clinical neuroscience is to address how specific neuron types and neural pathways relate to distinct behavioral and physiological responses, therefore, define their function. The main goal of our research program is to address aspects of this question by elucidating the function of specific hippocampal pathways  and GABA interneurons subtypes in sensory, emotional and cognitive control in behavioral contexts. Under this overarching theme, we discovered that there are separable circuits and interneuron populations embedded in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, working together to guide anxiety, stress, olfaction, and memory, often with opposing functions. In parallel, we have also contribute to the development of new recombinase-based genetic tools offering far-reaching capabilities for noninvasively labeling and silencing neuron subtypes of choice.