Pfaff Lab
Principal Investigator: Samuel L. Pfaff
Institution: Salk Institute for Biological Studies (La Jolla, CA)
Primary Subfield: Neuroscience
Recruitment Status: ✅ Accepting PhD Students ✅ Hiring Postdocs
Research Focus
Project Summary/Abstract: The spinal cord is comprised of many genetically and functionally heterogenous cell types that are both interconnected and intermingled to form complex circuits for computing limb movements. From a computational perspective, motor control represents an enormous challenge because even the simplest motor actions require precise coordination of muscle contraction timing and force across joints that have multiple degrees of freedom. The goal of this grant is to characterize the firing patterns of spinal neurons during motor behaviors while characterizing their spatial relationships, functional-connectivity, and genetic profile in order to better understand how the spinal cord processes motor commands for meaningful limb movements. The experiments in this grant are based on a technical breakthrough in which highly-flexible nano-electronic thread (NET) probes with 32, 64x2, and 128 recording sites have been optimized for monitoring neuronal activity in the spinal cord of awake behaving mice. This grant is a multi-PI collaboration that builds on the strengths of three laboratories with expertise in engineering, physiology, and neurogenetics that have a record of…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R01NS140568-02: Recording Spinal Neural Activity Across Genetic Classes During Hindlimb Motor Behaviors (2026)
- 5R01NS135055-03: Dissecting local (N) and long range (Z) circuit modules within the spinal cord (2026)
- 5P30CA014195-53: Transgenic Core (TGC) (2026)
- 1R01NS140568-01A1: Recording Spinal Neural Activity Across Genetic Classes During Hindlimb Motor Behaviors (2025)
- 5R01NS135055-02: Dissecting local (N) and long range (Z) circuit modules within the spinal cord (2025)
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