Hosted by Julius Zhu, Luis de Lecea, PhD is a Professor of Psychiatry and Behaviorial Sciences, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

The de Lecea Lab is interested in the role of neuromodulators in mammalian behavior, especially behaviors related to sleep, reward, stress, and learning/memory. In the late 1990s we discovered the Hypocretin system and we continue to uncover new roles for this system in vivo. We also study other neuromodulators such as dopamine, norepinephrine, histamine, melanin-concentrating hormone, and others. To study these systems we use molecular and systems neuroscience techniques such as optogenetics, electrophysiology, viral gene delivery, histology, and a variety of behavioral assays.