Atomu Sawatari, PhD, completed his PhD at the Salk Institute and his postdoctoral training at Harvard. Since taking a post as a Lecturer in Physiology at the University of Sydney, Australia, he has led a research group which utilizes anatomical, physiological and behavioral tools to determine the role of environmental and genetic factors on the development and function of cognitive circuits. His team has pioneered the characterization of perineuronal nets (PNNs, extracellular matrix structures involved in the consolidation of neural circuits) in the developing striatum of pre-clinical models. This work have culminated in the finding that enzymatic removal of striatal PNNs from adult models leads to changes in ambulation that resembles the motor behavior exhibited by younger models.