Nieh, Edward Horng-An
Primary Appointment
Pharmacology
Education
- B.S.E., Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
- M.S.E., Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
- Ph.D., Brian and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Contact Information
Email: enieh@virginia.edu
Website: https://www.niehlab.com/
Research Disciplines
Biotechnology, Computational Biology, Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Molecular Pharmacology, Neuroscience
Research Interests
Understanding the neural code underlying motivated behaviors like feeding, drinking, and social interaction, with a focus on how malfunction in associated brain areas are involved in diseases like addiction and eating disorders
Research Description
The primary goal of our lab is to understand the neural code underlying the generation of different motivated behaviors (e.g. feeding, drinking, and social interaction), with a focus on how malfunction in associated brain areas are involved in diseases like drug addiction and eating disorders. We use mice as the primary model animal in our lab. A particular emphasis of the lab is on studying how these different behaviors are encoded by the brain, specifically by studying large populations of neurons and the interactions between them. We also understand the importance of studying sex differences in mice, especially because of well known differences in addiction and eating disorders between males and females.
We employ a variety of systems neuroscience techniques, such as rodent behaviors in real life and virtual reality, 2-photon imaging and stimulation, in vivo electrophysiology, optogenetics, pharmacology, and computational approaches to observe, manipulate, and model neural activity at the single-cell and population-activity levels.