Project Summary/Abstract Electromagnetic brain stimulation is a safe and proven way of controlling neural activity non-invasively with no implanted hardware or injected biochemical agents. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is FDA approved for treatment of drug resistant depression and obsessive compulsory disorder with a range of other clinical applications under investigation.
PROJECT SUMMARY Living organisms interact with complex environments that are inherently multisensory. Within these environments, the brain must integrate information from multiple sensory modalities, including the auditory and olfactory systems, for perception and behavior. However, despite the ubiquity and importance of multisensory integration, there is a critical gap in our understanding of how the brain integrates auditory and olfactory stimuli. This proposal will fill this knowledge gap by revealing the mechanisms underlying auditory-olfactory integration in the auditory cortex.
Project Summary / Abstract Astrocytes are pervasive throughout the CNS and are the most abundant non-neuronal cell type. They are an essential component of neural circuits, and increasing evidence demonstrates they are specialized for specific brain regions. For example, proteomic, transcriptomic, and electrophysiology experiments show that hippocampal and striatal astrocytes are distinct. However, it is unknown if astrocytes are heterogeneous within brain regions such as the striatum where neuronal subtypes are largely uniform.
Project Summary Episodic memory is the ability to recall details about prior experiences. Researchers have historically relied on controlled item-recognition paradigms, in complement to autobiographical recall tasks, to investigate the biological substrates of episodic memory. Contemporary theories posit that episodic memory is supported by a constellation of neocortical regions, in concert with the hippocampus and medial temporal cortices.
ABSTRACT/SUMMARY The mouse somatosensory thalamus participates in fundamental processes including sensory processing, sleep and pathological rhythmic behaviors like seizure. Local thalamic interneurons have been considerably overlooked due to their sparsity in the total neuronal population. However, their extensive dendritic arborizations spanning almost the entire breadth of the nucleus, together with my preliminary data, point to an important role for these cells in thalamic functions.
Project Summary Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have emerged as a promising modality for restoring physiological functions such as mobility, communication, and visual perception.
ABSTRACT Eating disorders are severe psychiatric conditions with a significant worldwide cost and disability burden. Binge eating (BE) is a behavior that cuts across nearly all eating disorder diagnoses. Unfortunately, psychological treatments for eating disorders/BE are limited, and targeted biological/pharmacological treatments have not yet been effective. In order to develop more effective targeted treatments, it is critical to understand the neural circuit abnormalities that contribute to the onset, expression, and maintenance of BE.
PROJECT SUMMARY Machine-learning-based classification of neuroimaging data (hereafter ML-MRI) to predict clinical diagnoses has increased substantially in the last decade. Despite the promise of ML for clinical classification and prediction, no work has been done to anticipate the ethical obligations and challenges that emerge when ML algorithms predict clinical diagnoses in pre-symptomatic individuals.
Project Summary The mouse posterior parietal cortex (PPC) has emerged as an essential region for decision-making during memory-guided decision-making tasks. Neurons in the PPC typically respond selectively at a single point during a unique behavioral trial type; activity at the population level can be thought of as a choice-specific trajectory through state space.
Project Summary This project’s long-term goal is a fuller understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms of olfactory sensory adaptation that facilitate odor discrimination in the natural world. To confront the wide fluctuations in intensity and temporal variability that are characteristic of natural odor environments, animals have evolved refined neurosensory mechanisms for parsing behaviorally-relevant signals such as pheromones from background nuisance odors.
