Sarah is a member of the Jack Mellor lab at University of Bristol. Memory is fundamentally dependent on the behavioural context of learnt information and we aim to investigate the contextual factors that are important for the encoding of memory by synaptic plasticity at a neuronal circuit level. We study this by considering the factors that regulate the induction of synaptic plasticity and the mechanisms underlying its expression. Currently this involves projects in the following areas: The role of acetylcholine and other neuromodulators in synaptic circuit function; the patterns of activity that induce synaptic plasticity; and the mechanisms underlying postsynaptic neurotransmitter receptor trafficking. We use a combination of techniques including in vitro and in vivo electrophysiology, 2-photon imaging, optogenetics, behavioural assays and computational modelling.