David Ginty wants to understand the function, organization, and mechanisms of assembly of the peripheral nervous system and spinal cord circuits that underlie the sense of touch. Ginty and his team use a range of approaches in their work, including molecular genetics, imaging, circuit mapping, electrophysiology, and behavioral tests. Current goals are to understand the functions and properties of low-threshold mechanosensory neurons (LTMRs), which are the sensory neurons of touch, and the organizational logic of LTMR synaptic connections in the spinal cord and brainstem, mechanisms of touch circuit assembly during development, and the basis of aberrant touch reactivity in autism spectrum disorders and chronic neuropathic pain.
A team led by HHMI Hanna Gray Fellow Shan Meltzer has created a detailed, cell-by-cell map of the spinal cord that offers a new framework for understanding chronic pain and provides a powerful new resource for the field. Thirteen HHMI scientists have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.  Eleven HHMI scientists are elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.