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The ability to learn and form memory is one of the most remarkable and fundamental features of the nervous system. From the brain of a human to the simple nervous system of a roundworm, this ability is indispensable to the functioning of flourishing of the organism, yet the underlying biological mechanisms is still poorly understood.

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In the Tang Worm Lab, we aim to understand the genetic, biochemical, and cellular basis of memory and learning. To overcome the difficulties in studying a complex nervous system, we choose to use the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, a free-living microscopic roundworm with only 302 neurons, to uncover fundamental principles of neuroscience. In our lab, we explore the relationship between behavioral changes due to experience, the dynamics of the neuronal network architecture, and the genetic regulations behind these processes.