Clara Braconnier

I am a PhD student at UCLouvain, under the supervision of Julie Duque, PI of the CoActions Lab and Frédéric Crèvecoeur is my co-supervisor.

My research project aims to explore the causal role of arousal in the regulation of human behavior, with a particular focus on motor control. I am especially interested in understanding the specific contributions of two neuromodulatory systems: norepinephrine (NE) and dopamine (DA). I work with the hypothesis that arousal operates through two complementary routes: one mediated by the substantia nigra dopamine (SN-DA) system, which invigorates behavior, and another mediated by the locus coeruleus norepinephrine (LC-NE) system, which channels this invigoration in a goal-directed way. To investigate this, I use long-latency reflexes elicited by mechanical perturbations during reaching movements as a marker of goal-directed motor control. A key feature of my approach is the use of transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation (tVNS) to causally modulate the LC-NE system. In parallel, I study the SN-DA system by manipulating reward in healthy participants.

I graduated in 2022 from a master's degree in biomedical engineering. I then worked in the pharmaceutical industry but, after a few months, I decided to switch to fundamental research and joined the lab in co-promotion in June 2023 to begin a PhD.