"Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change" - Stephen Hawking

We perform experimental and computational analyses to unravel the principles used by our brains to transform internal and external information into intelligent actions. With this general focus inspired by biology and engineering, we look at how specific every-day variables, such as dietary nutrients and action opportunities, impact defined controllers of arousal or appetite, such as the brain-wide projecting orexin/hypocretin neurons of the hypothalamus. Thus our work is also of medical relevance, since around 1 in 4 humans suffer from an arousal-related disorder such as insomnia or anxiety, or an energy imbalance such as overeating and obesity. 

Selected lab news and publications:

August 2024 - Alex's paper on neural valuation in temptation-resistant exercise: external page Nature Neuro   Sport or snack?

June 2024 - Nik's review on neurocomputational meaning of pupil size: external page Neuron

June 2024 - Paul's paper on neural encoding of temporal features of blood glucose external page Nature Neuro  external page Does the brain see how fast glucose changes?

February 2024 - Han-Tao's paper on neural basis for hypothalamic DBS against epilepsy: external page Nature Communications

December 2023 - Nik wins the ETH medal for his PhD, congratulations!

October 2023 - Yihui Du joins us for PhD, welcome!

Sept 2023 - Yu Chen joins us for PhD, welcome!

Aug 2023 - Mathilde's paper on how accumbal dopamine systems deal with hedonic eating: external page Molecular Psychiatry

June 2023 - Nik's paper on how pupil size is influenced by orexin neurodynamics: external page Nature Neuroscience   ETH news

April 2022 - We found how non-essential (but not essential!) nutrients suppress eating and re-ignite exploration: ETH news

April 2022 - A neural basis for hypothalamic DBS against anxiety: external page PNAS