We take an evolutionary and comparative approach to sensory neuroscience to answer a fundamental question: How many ways are there to make a complex brain? Our research focuses on behavioral and neural plasticity induced by injury and noxious sensations in cephalopod mollusks, whose complex brains and behaviors provide novel insights into the evolution and function of affective, emotional states such as pain, and the neural circuits that generate them. Our work is divided in two main research streams:
Cellular and behavioral neuroscience studies aimed at revealing conserved mechanisms and functions of injury-induced plasticity.
2. Welfare, husbandry, anesthesia and analgesia studies aimed at informing and improving regulatory oversight for cephalopods used in research laboratories throughout the world.
Learn more at https://crooklab.org/
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Contact
Email: rcrook@sfsu.edu
Phone: (415) 338-1278