STG Lab

Our laboratory is part of the Federated Department of Biological Sciences of the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and Rutgers University Newark. It is run by three Principal Investigators, Farzan Nadim, Jorge Golowasch, and Dirk Bucher, all faculty in the department. We use both experimental and theoretical approaches to study the neurophysiology of a small central pattern generating circuit in lobsters and crabs, the stomatogastric ganglion (STG). Central pattern generators (CPGs) are networks of nerve cells in the central nervous system that generate the basic patterned electrical activity underlying most rhythmic behaviors like walking and breathing in all animals. We are taking advantage of the experimental accessibility of the crustacean nervous system to uncover fundamental principles that govern neural processing across all animal and human nervous systems .