Aya Takeoka
NERF, empowered by IMEC, KU Leuven and VIB, BE
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Biography
My central research aim is to understand how animals learn to generate and control motor behavior in health and disease. In my lab, we study mechanisms of circuit assembly, function and plasticity that lead to motor learning and recovery after neurotrauma.
We use a wide variety of methods, including detailed motor kinematic assessments, mouse genetics, viral tracing and manipulation, electrophysiological and imaging techniques. This approach allows us to manipulate functions of specific neuronal populations, which in turn helps us to understand their role in sensorimotor circuit output and plasticity.
Career:
- since 2016NERF Principal Investigator
- since 2016Assistant professor at the Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven
- 2010–2016Postdoc fellow, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Switzerland
- 2010PhD, University of California Los Angeles, US
- 2003BS Neuroscience with High Honors, Oberlin College, Ohio, US