PROJECT SUMMARY Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research has transformed our understanding of human brain function and disease and is flourishing under unprecedented international funding, including dedicated support from the BRAIN Initiative.
Project Abstract Whether riding your bike down a narrow path or reaching for your favorite cookie in a small box, many of our daily actions require skilled and accurate movements. However, to achieve proficiency, these motor skills must first be learned through the process of motor learning. Much work on this subject has focused on the dynamics of heterogeneous populations of neurons in various parts of the motor system. However, whether specific types of neurons are recruited over learning and/or whether neurons change functionally over learning has not been thoroughly explored.
PROJECT SUMMARY How do animals coordinate their many parts to generate coherent, adaptive behavior?
Project Summary Functional MRI (fMRI) is the prevailing method for both basic research and clinical functional neuroimaging in humans. A key component behind state-of-the-art fMRI is the multichannel radio frequency (RF) receive coil technology, which enables parallel imaging acceleration for improved spatial and temporal resolution. However, these imaging coils are usually fabricated on a hard helmet-shaped plastic chassis.
Project Summary/Abstract The brain undergoes extensive synaptic plasticity and circuit refinement during development. Similar changes recur throughout life during learning in a more narrowly constrained manner. Understanding how neuronal connections and activity are adaptively remodeled to accommodate a changing world remains an outstanding question in neuroscience research. Recent technological innovations provide unprecedented access to address this.
Project Summary/Abstract Circuits in the brain control motor output to generate the precise behaviors required for survival. Dysfunction of these circuits results in devastating movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It is important to understand how the brain normally controls behavior by understanding what features of motor output are encoded in individual neurons and how these representations are organized across a neuronal population. This K99/R00 proposal will support Dr.
Project summary Nausea is an unpleasant sensation of visceral malaise often accompanied by an involuntary urge to vomit. Nausea responses to toxin ingestion and infection are evolutionarily beneficial survival behaviors that avoid or expel toxins which may cause peripheral tissue damage. However, the sensation of nausea can also be maladaptive, as many treatments for cancer, diabetes, and other illnesses induce nausea as a major side effect, while current anti-emetic drugs have only limited efficacy.
Project summary Our lives unfold over time, weaving rich, dynamic, and multisensory information into a continuous experience. However, we remember this as a series of discrete events. For example, the memory of a two-hour movie consists of a few memorable moments tied to the main story. During encoding, we segment deviant events and associate relevant events. During retrieval, we utilize the temporal association among encoded events to search for specific memory information.
Project Summary: The decision to commence a new behavior often requires termination of the ongoing behavior. This implies that the many drive states produced by an animal impact not only the neural circuits underlying their directly associated behaviors, but also those of many other behaviors. My lab has shown that the mating behaviors of male Drosophila are under motivational control and may be abandoned in the presence of stimuli evoking competing drives—depending on the relative intensities of the contending drives.
Project Summary/Abstract The overall goal of this project is to determine how output from the basal ganglia influences cerebral cortical activity in the processes of decision making, motor planning, and movement execution. The studies will employ mice as the best suited species in order to bring modern optogenetic and genetically encoded sensor technologies to bear on this critical gap in our understanding of brain function. In aim 1 we address the impact of basal ganglia output on network activity in cortex across sensory and motor areas.
