Our lab studies the neurons, synapses and circuits that underlie motivated behaviours. These behaviours promote survival and allow both humans and animals to learn to navigate the world while seeking out needed resources and avoiding unwanted threats. These processes play important roles in everyday life, but are also implicated in many neuropsychiatric disorders including substance use disorder, anxiety, and depression. We study how different populations of neurons are organized in local and long range networks, and how these networks are modulated and recrutied to promote motivated behaviours. To do this, we use a combination of anatomy, whole cell patch clamp electrophysiology, fiber photometry and optogenetics in both in vivo and ex vivo experiments.