The nervous system is an interconnected system of neural networks that controls everything from the most critical basic functions (e.g. breathing, walking) to highly complex behaviors. Because of this interconnected nature of the nervous system, injury and disease in one part of the brain can have downstream effects on other networks even though those networks themselves are not injured. The Schulz Lab is interested in how loss of function in one “upstream” aspect of a neural network can have profound impacts on the uninjured “downstream” aspects of these systems.

The two major questions in the Schulz lab are how loss of input to neural networks changes the properties of the neurons of these networks, and what the impacts of those changes are for prospective recovery from injury. In particular, we are interested in how loss of inputs changes the neural networks below the injury that are responsible for locomotion and motor output. In this way, we investigate fundamental properties of neurons and circuits, as well as their dynamics. 

We combine single cell molecular expression profiling with electrophysiology to understand how neuron and network physiology change, as well as the cellular basis for those changes. We use primarily invertebrate models to conduct these studies. Our most recent work focuses on how the leech nervous system is able to dynamically adapt to total nerve cord transection to recover the ability to crawl, despite lack of regeneration of those severed inputs. In doing so, we leverage the naturalistic context of the animal to provide insight into the mechanistic, adaptive, and evolutionary factors that contribute to nervous system plasticity and stability.