The major goal of our laboratory is to understand how intracellular signalling events downstream to neurotransmitter receptors are integrated within the brain to produce synaptic plasticity changes and behavioural responses. In particular we are focussing on the role of the RAS/ERK/CREB signalling pathway in the striatum, a region of the brain implicated in a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders, ranging from neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson’s and Huntington’s) to psychoses and drug abuse. To achieve these goals a wide range of techniques is used in the laboratory, including mouse molecular genetics, primary cell culture preparation, viral-mediated gene expression and behavioural analysis in transgenic mice.