Our work focuses on advancing the understanding of brain development in health and disease. We are an interdisciplinary team of researchers trying to:
- Understand basic principles of brain functioning across development (i.e. figure out how the brain works).
- Learn about how neuropsychiatric and other brain-based disorders develop and progress over time.
- Contribute to the prevention and treatment of brain-based disorders.
- Engage unrepresented communities in all aspects of academic medicine and research.
Our lab members have diverse training backgrounds and areas of expertise spanning the fields of neuroscience, developmental and clinical psychology, psychiatry, biomedical engineering and computer science.
We use a type of neuroimaging called resting state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging to study the brain across development (from infancy to aging), in different disorders (ADHD, autism, Parkinson’s Disease), and across different species (humans, non-human primates and rodents). We combine this technique with other neuroimaging, behavioral and biological measures.
We believe that the wide range of research conducted in the lab (i.e., observational studies in humans and experimental designs in animal models), and the diversity of our lab members helps us gain unique insights into questions about brain development in health and disease. It also makes for a fun and exciting place to work! Explore the tabs above to learn more about our team, research, and outreach programs, the Youth Engaged in Science (YES!) Initiative.
Most of our work at the University of Minnesota is done in partnership with the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain (MIDB). To learn more about the institute, please visit midb.umn.edu.