Dr. Christopher Vaaga is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University. In his work, Dr. Vaaga will examine the role of the cerebellum in modulating the expression of innate defense behaviors. Here, under the mentorship of Dr. Indira Raman, he will examine the role of local ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vIPAG) dopamine neurons in this process. To conduct this work, Dr. Vaaga will use both in vivo behavioral and systems-level approaches to manipulate cerebellar input and cerebellar activity during innate freezing behaviors. He will do the same with vIPAG neurons, using fiber photometry and optogenetic actuators. Finally, he will test the hypothesis that cerebellar associative plasticity contributes to fear memory formation by modulating vIPAG dopamine activity. This work will improve our understanding of the cerebellum’s role in modulating defensive behaviors, which are necessary for survival. Dr. Vaaga received his bachelor’s degree from University of Washington and completed his PhD at Oregon Health and Science University.