The Gittis Lab studies the neural basis of motor control through the study of basal ganglia circuits. Her lab uses optogenetics, behavior, and electrophysiology to study how plasticity of basal ganglia circuits contributes to the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease and how circuits can be repaired for more effective therapies. In a previous study, her lab identified therapeutic populations of neurons in the external globus pallidus (GPe) that can induce a long-lasting recovery of movement in dopamine depleted mice. The goals of this research program are to understand the cellular mechanisms and therapeutic pathways through which this long-lasting recovery take place, and how interventions delivered at different stages of disease progression can affect both motor and non-motor symptoms.