The goal of my laboratory is to understand the genetic and neural mechanisms underlying social interactions. We are particularly interested in the neural circuits controlling aggressive interactions of the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster, and how genes functioning in these circuits mediate intracellular and inter-neuronal communications. To this end, we combine multiple genetic, physiological and behavioral methods to manipulate functions of genes and neurons, and elucidate the behavioral consequence of such manipulations. Our overarching aim is to elucidate how genes and neurons shape animal’s choice of behavior during social interactions, and how behavioral experience influence the operation of neural circuits controlling social behaviors.