Dr. Tom Clandinin's research program is focused on three central questions in neurobiology. How do neuronal circuits assemble during development? How are the functions of these circuits maintained during adult life? How do such circuits mediate the complex computations essential to animal behavior?  The Clandinin Lab's work exploits the interplay between the cells and genes that underpin these processes to define new molecular mechanisms that control neuronal connection specificity, synapse maintenance, and to characterize the computational roles of specific circuits. The long term goal of their research program is to understand how the genome programs neural circuits across adult life to implement the computations that underpin innate behavior, using the visual system of the fruit fly as a model.