Personally, my most satisfying contributions to knowledge include: defining how the dendritic architecture accounts for visual responsiveness to movement (see Nature, 254: 53-55); characterizing the modulatory role of the novel neurotransmitter octopamine (see Nature, 270: 257-259; Science, 204: 1219-1222); discovering the first specific example of synaptic co-transmission (see Science, 213: 567-569; PNAS, 78: 5899-5902; Science,  221: 286-289); discovering a novel molecular mechanism of neuro-peptide biosynthesis (see Neuron, 2: 1363-1368; J. Neuroscience, 9: 996-1003; Neuron,  2: 1369-1373; J. Neuroscience, 11: 3246-3256); discovering (with colleague Dr Sergei Korneev) the first functional pseudo-gene in an identified neuron; and establishing functional role in memory formation of NO and determining the spatio-temporal dynamics of non-synaptic gaseous ‘volume’ signaling – a direction that inspired GasNets, a new class of robot artificial neural network (see J. Neuroscience, 15: 7653-7664; J. Neuroscience, 22: 1-5; J. Neuroscience, 22: 1414-1425; RNA, 14: 2030-2037; Connection Science, 10: 185-210).

Current research continues to explore challenging questions in neuroscience such as: How is information coded in the brain (see PLoS Comput Bioll, 6(7): e1000839, 2010)? How are neural networks configured to generate patterns of activity underlying motor behaviour and how are they altered by learning (see PLoS One, 7(7): e42493, 2012)? Work on the development of multi-electrode array (MEA)  technology in the intact brains of behaving animals is on-going. The overarching aim is to transform our understanding of how networks of neurons are configured to control and modify simple forms of behaviour and behavioural plasticity.