Sensing the World
Why do we feel pain? What causes us to have intense cravings? How do we manage move so effortlessly through the world?
Fan Wang’s research focuses on the neural circuits governing the bidirectional interactions between the brain and body. She is specifically interested in the circuits that control the sensory and emotional aspects of pain and addiction, as well as the sensory and motor circuits that work together to execute behaviors such as eating, drinking, and moving. She has explored how anesthesia suppresses pain, how brain circuits generate rhythmic behaviors, how the brain coordinates speaking and breathing, and how drugs of abuse influence brain circuits that drive addiction. Wang’s lab deploys a range of techniques to gain traction in these studies, including genetic and viral methods, in vivo electrophysiology, in vivo imaging, and behavioral and autonomic response tracking. Her research has profound implications for real-world problems, including chronic pain and addiction.
