Dr. Tuncdemir is interested in understanding how the neural circuits that encode specific features of contexts are organized in adults and to elucidate the key developmental mechanisms by which this network is formed. Using a combination of in vivo imaging, transgenic tagging, and manipulation strategies as well as computational analysis of somatic and projection neural activity, her lab investigates the mechanisms by which multisensory information arriving from the external world generates the functional diversity in the hippocampal representations. Ultimately, an integrated view of a circuit function from the activity of its component cell types at multiple time scales, across the lifespan will provide new biomarkers for disorders characterized by impaired cognitive discrimination such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety disorders.