Our lab addresses how the brain generates healthy patterns of electrical activity and how neural circuits acquire energy to support these processes. We are trying to understand the cellular, molecular, and metabolic mechanisms that typically limit healthy neuronal function, and then, in turn, devise ways that allow neural circuits to overcome these limitations in various disease states. Instead of creating disease models and trying to fix them, we think about animals in nature that evolved strategies to overcome significant disturbances to the nervous system for their survival. Uncovering these mechanisms has implications for new ways to approach neurological disorders, as we may be able to reverse-engineer natural solutions that animals already use to improve the fitness of brain circuits.