The Butts Lab is interested in what drives neural fate decisions, particularly in the brainstem. Connecting the brain to the spinal cord, the brainstem is the most evolutionarily conserved part of the nervous system and is responsible for our everyday survival including regulating heart rate and respiration. Despite the importance of the brainstem, little is known about how it develops and how diverse neuronal functions are carried out. The Butts lab will uncover in vivo developmental transcriptional programs to engineering new in vitro neuronal models from pluripotent stem cells. These findings are then used to model various neurological diseases that affect the brainstem.