About Our Lab

Our research focuses on the basal ganglia, a group of subcortical brain nuclei that are critical for voluntary movement, learning and motivation, and the primary site of dysfunction in psychomotor disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder and addiction.

Selected Publications

Chu HY, McIver EL, Kovaleski RF, Atherton JF, Bevan MD.
Loss of Hyperdirect Pathway Cortico-Subthalamic Inputs Following Degeneration of Midbrain Dopamine Neurons.
2017 Neuron 95:1306-1318

Atherton JF, McIver EL, Mullen MRM, Wokosin DL, Surmeier DJ, Bevan MD.
Early dysfunction and progressive degeneration of the subthalamic nucleus in mouse models of Huntington's disease.
2016 eLife 5:e21616

Chu HY, Atherton JF, Wokosin D, Surmeier DJ, Bevan MD.
Heterosynaptic regulation of external globus pallidus inputs to the subthalamic nucleus by the motor cortex.
2015 Neuron 85: 364–376

Atherton JF, Menard A, Urbain N, Bevan MD.
Short-term depression of external globus pallidus-subthalamic nucleus synaptic transmission and implications for patterning subthalamic activity.
2013 J Neurosci 33: 7130–7144

Fan KY, Baufreton J, Surmeier DJ, Chan CS, Bevan MD.
Proliferation of external globus pallidus-subthalamic nucleus synapses following degeneration of midbrain dopamine neurons.
2012 J Neurosci 32: 13718–13728