Assembling the buidling blocks of motor behavior: from peripheral axon signaling to motor unit plasticity

The neuromuscular circuitry represents the final common pathway through which the central nervous system elicits behavioral outputs. The assembly of this circuitry depends on genetically hardwired programs that lay down the fundamental pattern of neuromuscular connectivity during embryonic and postnatal development. While work in the past 15 years provided a mechanistic framework for understanding how motor neuron-muscle connections are established, insights into how these connectivity patterns become integrated into functional sensory-motor circuits remain sparse. These early processes are inherently linked to the functional refinement of neural properties and connections, including the plasticity and maintenance of the neuromuscular circuitry throughout adult life. Research in my group centers around three focus areas tackling the following questions: (1) How is wiring specificity achieved in the sensory-motor circuitry? (2) What are the molecular pathways driving the functional specification and plasticity of motor units? (3) What are the determinants underlying motor unit type-specific vulnerability?