Assous Lab

Understanding how the brain selects actions, learns from experience, and adapts to change is essential for explaining both healthy behaviour and the origins of conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, ADHD, and addiction. The striatum plays a central role in these processes, yet the microcircuits that enable it to guide behaviour remain poorly understood.

Our research aims to build a mechanistic understanding of how striatal microcircuits support learning, decision-making, and behavioural flexibility, and how their disruption contributes to neurological and psychiatric disorders. We combine cellular, circuit, and systems-level approaches to bridge the gap between microscale connectivity and mesoscale computation.

A central part of our vision is cultivating a research culture that values curiosity, methodological rigor, open communication, and mentorship. We promote an environment where diverse perspectives strengthen scientific creativity and where trainees are empowered to drive innovative, high-impact projects.

Our work is inherently collaborative: we partner with physiologists, computational neuroscientists, behavioural scientists, and clinicians to integrate complementary expertise, develop new tools, and translate fundamental discoveries into broader neuroscientific and translational insights. Through this collaborative and inclusive framework, our goal is to advance a comprehensive, multi-level understanding of striatal function in health and disease.