Prof Yaksi has a long track record in systems neuroscience, from using two-photon calcium imaging data to analyse activity patterns of large neuronal populations to electrophysiological recordings of single neurons in zebrafish and Drosophila.

His laboratory at the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at NTNU studies how sensory information interacts with animals’ internal states using zebrafish as model system. To achieve this, he focuses on the habenula, a brain region associated with predicting potential outcomes. His laboratory revealed that habenular neurons respond to sensory cues and integrate information with the ongoing activity of the brain. Moreover, his team identified that distinct functional modules in habenula are born in discrete developmental time windows and are driven by the activation of different the cortico-limbic forebrain regions. Beyond fundamental neuroscience questions, the Yaksi laboratory also implements systems neuroscience and bioinformatics approaches to investigate the role of astroglia-neuron interactions in brain physiology and pathophysiology.