Funded Awards

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Because neurons integrate and process information via modulation of their membrane potential, the ability to monitor voltage is critical to understanding how single and groups of neurons compute.

SUMMARY Norepinephrine (NE) is a neurotransmitter released by a small number of neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC), with extensive innervation of the neocortex. Prior work in humans and other mammals led to the hypothesis that LC-NE neurons modulate multiple forms of decision making.

Project Summary Aggression is an evolutionarily conserved behavior that controls social hierarchies and protects valuable resources like mates, food, and territory. In most cases, aggression is a necessary, adaptive component of social behavior.

Whole-brain mapping at the cellular and subcellular levels is crucial to systematically understand brain functions and disorders.

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT Neuropeptide modulation of neuronal circuits is strongly linked to many crucial behaviors such as exploration, stress, memory formation, learning, and many pathophysiological conditions.

SUMMARY The brain is composed of thousands of highly specialized cell types that form very specific synaptic connections with each other. Together, these connections form neural circuits that are the structural basis of brain function.

ABSTRACT Understanding the function of neural circuits requires thorough investigation of two circuit elements: cell types and connectivity.

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Humans have highly advanced cognitive abilities and motor skills, characteristics which are reflected in the enlarged size and cell diversity of our central nervous system (CNS).

TITLE: IDENTIFYING THE NEURAL MECHANISMS OF GOAL-DIRECTED DECISION-MAKING IN PARKINSON’S DISEASE USING CLOSED-LOOP DEEP BRAIN STIMULATION PROJECT SUMMARY People with Parkinson’s disease commonly suffer from non-motor symptoms, including motivation deficits, that impact quality of life more than c

PROJECT SUMMARY As we get older, we learn to modulate our behaviors to optimize reward outcomes. These adaptive choices are orchestrated by current sensory conditions, internal cognitive states, and future expectations.

Project Summary / Abstract Although BRAIN 2.0 called for the BRAIN Initiative to “prioritize diversity and inclusion as a fundamental pillar,” research with the human neuroimaging technologies being developed by BRAIN Initiative continues to rely on non-representative convenience samples.

Abstract Decades of research have revealed the principles of information processing that give rise to auditory spatial tuning and experience-dependent adaptive plasticity in the owl auditory system.

Project Summary Uncertainty is an often pervasive, stressful experience that arises when making judgments about others' beliefs, intentions, or emotions (i.e., ambiguous social situations). Excessive uncertainty can have pernicious effects upon memory, mood, and physical and mental outcomes.

Hypothalamic tanycytes have limited postnatal neurogenic competence, but the extrinsic and intrinsic factors that promote this are not well understood. My predoctoral research identified a defined developmental window during which neurogenic competence is lost from hypothalamic tanycytes.

Project Summary Intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) of the sensory cortices is an emerging approach to restore sensation to people who have lost it due to neurological injury or disease.

PROJECT SUMMARY The choroid plexus (ChP) comprises a network of cells that form a critical brain barrier that can mediate secondary damage in certain brain disorders and trauma. The Lehtinen lab has developed a suite of tools to study the ChP across development ex vivo and in vivo.

Project Summary: The majority of lived experience depends on neural activity conveying sensory information about the world.

The goal of this project is to create two prototypes of a novel live spike sorting system which can be used by investigators to spike sort streams of neural data recorded by multi-channel, high channel and ultra-high channel probes.

Project Summary/Abstract Neural representations supporting spatial and episodic learning form, and transform rapidly in the mammalian hippocampus.

Project Summary Sub-Cerebral Projection Neurons (SCPNs) are a clinically relevant neuron class that controls voluntary movement and whose loss in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Fronto-temporal dementia or injury (e.g., damaged by spinal cord injury) leads to paralysis.