Research Overview

The overarching goal of the Sterne Lab is to understand the neural circuit mechanisms that generate and shape complex feeding behaviors. To survive, animals must successfully derive energy from their environments. Moment to moment control of feeding requires the synthesis of diverse and sometimes conflicting inputs, including external sensory information, internal state, and experience. The most salient features of these diverse inputs must be translated into neural activity and processed by circuits that select and shape sequenced and rhythmic feeding motor programs. Furthermore, feeding experiences must be remembered to instruct future behavior. While disordered feeding is the cause of many human health conditions, the circuit mechanisms that give rise properly timed, coordinated, and rhythmic feeding behaviors and translate feeding experiences into memory are not well understood.