Monitor Neural Activity

Neuropeptides are important signaling molecules that regulate brain states, modify neural activity and control vascular tone in the nervous system. Pharmacological and molecular genetic studies have implicated changes in neuropeptide signaling with brain dysfunctions, such as alcohol abuse, drug addiction, and stress. Released via dense-core vesicles into the extrasynaptic space, neuropeptides diffuse over long distances (i.e., volume transmission), and activate G protein coupled neuropeptide receptors.

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT To understand the highly integrated cognitive processes in the mammalian brain, and the neuronal basis of com- plex and ethologically relevant behavior, one requires fast, depth-penetrating and volumetric imaging techniques that are compatible with free behavior such as during social interaction. To date, however, no method exists that allows Ca2+ imaging during free behavior and can be scaled up to large and curved brain surfaces while at the same time is capable of extracting neuronal signals at physiologically relevant time-scales (e.g.

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT Impaired consciousness during seizures has a major negative impact on quality of life for people with epilepsy. Consequences include risk of motor vehicle accidents, drowning, poor work and school performance, and social stigmatization. Impaired ictal/postictal arousal may also compromise breathing leading to sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.

PROJECT SUMMARY Optical imaging of neuronal activity in the mammalian brain at depth and at high spatial and temporal resolution remains a key challenge in neuroscience. This is because tissue scattering eliminates directional information carried by photons, with a characteristic length scale of hundreds of microns. As a result, the remaining unscattered, or “ballistic” component of light decays exponentially with depth.

Summary/Abstract Understanding the neural mechanisms underpinning cognition and behavior requires the ability to measure the dynamics and interactions of populations of neurons spread across many brain regions. Electrophysiological techniques provide the ability to measure this activity across superficial and deep structures at the speed of thought. Recent advances in electrophysiology have massively increased data quantity, quality, and ease of acquisition, thereby meaningfully reducing barriers to understanding the global brain circuits underlying behavior.

PROJECT SUMMARY To understand brain function, it is essential to identify how information is represented in neuronal population activity and how it is transformed by individual neurons as it flows through microcircuits. ​Two-photon (2P) microscopy is a core tool for this because it enables neuronal activity to be monitored at high spatial resolution deep within brain tissue in behaving animals​.

Brain dynamic low-frequency (

Project Summary The ability to monitor activity of ensembles of neurons at single-cell resolution, chronically, over long time periods is greatly desired by neuroscientists. A variety of multi-electrode arrays (MEAs) have been developed for in vivo studies. These arrays are capable of revealing the activity of neuronal ensembles. Unfortunately, none of the devices on the market is fully capable of obtaining recordings that are simultaneously high-yield and high-quality, as well as stable and useful over months to years.

Abstract A major goal of brain research is to image the dynamics of groups of neurons during behavior. Although even the simplest behaviors involve interactions across multiple parts of the nervous system, our tools for assessing function at the level of individual neurons usually allow only access to small regions of the brain, and with limited temporal resolution.

Project Summary Significance: Neuroscientists have set ambitious goals for electrophysiology and stimulation technology but these tools continue to lag behind. The mission is to achieve a scale at least on the order of the local neural circuits and to do so with a technology that does damage this circuit.