Gina Turrigiano Research Group

Brandeis University

Turrigiano asks how brains can change through experience without losing stable function. Her laboratory investigates homeostatic plasticity, including synaptic scaling, through which neurons adjust their excitability and activity. Research examines how these stabilizing mechanisms interact with learning-related synaptic changes during development of the neocortex. The group also studies how sleep and other behavioral states influence plasticity and firing-rate regulation. This provides a concrete neuroscience puzzle for prospective researchers: a circuit must preserve useful activity while still being flexible enough for learning and experience to reshape its connections.