Charlotte Lauren Burton

I am a behavioural neuroscientist working in Raffaella Tonini's lab: Neuromodulation of Cortical and Subcortical Circuits. I am interested in how natural behaviours manifest from circuit communication between neuromodulators, and how dysfunctions may arise from alterations in such networks.
My main research focus is the interaction between energy expenditure (effort), reward-based decision making and vigour, and the underlying neuromodulatory circuits involved in these processes. Moreover, I am studying these processes in the context of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) as a potential mechanistic deficit underlying bradykinesia (also described as a reduction in movement vigour). To complete this work I am utilising a neurotoxin-based mouse model of PD, a foraging task, and circuit-dissection approaches including fiber photometry and optogenetics. Overall I am interested in effort-based decision making, movement vigour, and the mapping of complex brain circuits in health and disease.