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.
Project summary Understanding how neural circuits give rise to sensory computation and, ultimately, perception, requires connecting biological features of neural circuits to abstract models of neural computation. In vison, a model of the visual receptive field (RF) describes how a neuron's responses are determined by the visual inputs it encounters. The visual RF can also provide a compact description of a neuron's function, revealing which features of the external environment that neuron is responsible for encoding.
Project Summary A fundamental end-goal of brain-computer interfaces (BCI) is to enable communication in individuals with severe motor paralysis. BCIs decode the neural signals and accomplish the intended goal via an effector, such as a computer cursor or a robotic limb. The BCI user relies on the realtime feedback of the effector's performance to modulate their neural strategy to control the external device. To date, this feedback is predominantly visual.
In dendrites, Ca2+ is critical in determining how neurons respond to incoming excitation. While numerous studies have focused on how dendritic Ca2+ relates to behaviorally-relevant neuronal and circuit activity using correlative observations, there is currently no method to precisely manipulate Ca2+ in neurons in vivo and thus causally test its role in circuit function and behavior. In non-neuronal cells, mitochondria can act as sinks for Ca2+ released from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) by forming direct contacts with these concentrated intracellular Ca2+ stores.
Project Summary and Abstract A major obstacle to understanding the link between behavior and neuronal activity is the difficulty of electrophysiologically recording the activity of large neuronal populations without limiting visual access. Electrode arrays directly measure electrical signals and offer significantly greater temporal resolution than optical fluorescence techniques, but the resulting obstruction of optical access limits the ability to pair electrode arrays with optogenetic stimulation and calcium imaging.
ABSTRACT Depicting the specific neuronal identity and connectivity underlying particular brain function remains a central goal for neuroscience. For over a century, neuroanatomy has continued to play critical roles in referencing a neuron's synaptic contact, dendritic morphology and axonal projection to its connectivity. The advances of genetic probes, optical imaging modalities and computer technologies permit monitoring and manipulating neuronal activity in living animals with unprecedented precision and scale.
PROJECT SUMMARY Every part of the brain is composed of dense tangles of heavily-interconnected neurons of many different types, each playing completely different roles in the circuitry. Rabies viral vectors have become indispensable tools for revealing the organization of this otherwise generally indecipherable jumble, because they allow the identification of synaptically-connected networks of neurons within the tissue.
Project Summary The development of trans-synaptic viral tracers is an important component of the BRAIN Initiative. At present, the lack of viral-based anterograde monosynaptic tracing tools with high signal strength and low toxicity is a gap in neuroscience.
Project Summary/Abstract Reuse of existing neuroscience data relies, in part, on our ability to understand the experimental design and study data. Historically, a description of the experiment is provided in textual documents, which are often difficult to search, lack the details necessary for data reuse, and are hampered by differences in terminologies across related fields of neuroscience.
