Dr. Shtrahman utilizes his training in experimental physics and clinical neurology to study how patterns of neuronal activity evolve during learning and are disrupted in brain disease. His lab also investigates the impact of viruses and viral vectors on neuronal function in the settings of brain development and neurodegenerative disease. They are capitalizing on the lessons gleaned from these studies to engineer novel viral vectors for human gene therapy for CNS disorders. This includes the development of novel recombinant adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) that have wider therapeutic windows and AAV gene therapies for brain cancer.