Theory & Data Analysis Tools

Project Summary/Abstract The objective of “Brain Computer Interfaces and Disability: Developing an Inclusive Ethical Framework (BCI- DEF)” is to use structured vignettes, video-supported interviews, and a deliberative democracy approach to assess and analyze diverse, critical stakeholder perspectives about the benefits, risks, and ethical challenges of Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology. BCIs measure and interpret brain signals and interface with a device to allow users to perform a task, such as communication or movement.

Project Summary Neurotechnologies used to treat brain disorders and diseases can drastically change brain function and behavior, monitor brain activity, and collect and transmit personal health data. Industry-academia (IA) partnerships play a critical role in bringing neurotechnologies to market for public benefit. However, there are significant ethical issues that emerge from these partnerships, especially given the unique capacities of neurotechnologies.

ABSTRACT Morphology is an essential phenotype in the characterization of cells and their states. It reflects the progression of functional cellular processes, such as morphogenesis, migration, or dendrite arborization, and can be indicative of disease. Delineating the molecular pathways that underlie morphological phenotypes is critical to understanding the relation between genetic pathways, morphology, and function of cells in the brain.

The brain is a massively interconnected network of specialized circuits. Understanding how these circuits support sensation, perception, cognition, and action requires measuring activity patterns within and across regions, but the measurements themselves do not produce insight into the structure or function of the underlying neuronal system. Insight requires the applications of quantitative methods that relate neuronal activity patterns to experimentally measurable variables, including things like present and past sensory inputs, current location, and current or future motor outputs.

Project Summary This proposal seeks to investigate sex hormone effects on reward and aversion-related behaviors through mapping of Lateral Habenula (LHb) circuits. The LHb is a central hub important for encoding aversive information and coordinating motivated behaviors, actions critical for survival. Dysfunction in LHb-dependent circuits contribute to a diverse set of disordered behaviors, such as aberrant processing of positive and negative valence, anhedonia, depressive symptomology, and maladaptive stress response, to name a few.

PROJECT SUMMARY To flexibly execute behavior, choices are made based on previous outcomes that will maximize reward. Crucially, learning the value of each action to obtain a reward is thought to drive this decision making process. In a value-based decision making framework, these values are first computed and then used to select and execute actions. Dysfunction in this decision making process is evident in many neuropsychiatric disorders including addiction and in patients with frontal cortical damage who show an inability to flexibly adjust or adapt their behavior.

The brain uses the combined physiology of many cells to transform incoming sensory signals into internal representations. This process is critical for the animal’s survival because it underlies the animal’s ability to identify environmental cues and associate them with the condition of their situation. While sensory representation at the somatic level is well-studied, exploration of this phenomenon at the synaptic level is lacking.

Project Summary/Abstract Learning how spontaneous neuronal activity shapes embryonic brain development is critical for understanding neurodevelopmental processes, with implications in neurological or neuropsychiatric disorders. Early sporadic activity is essential for the formation of mature correlated neuronal networks. To date, we have had success in identifying the motor circuit as the first circuit to function in a developing zebrafish embryo. In addition, a few neurons, the “leader cells”, are the first neurons to obtain spontaneous neuronal activity.

PROJECT SUMMARY Serotonin has been long been recognized as an important modulator of mood and behavior, yet it projection- specific dynamics are little understood. While serotonin has been well studied in anxiolytic contexts, activity of certain serotonin projections works to increase stress behaviors. In particular, serotonergic projections from dorsal raphe to the anterodorsal bed nucleus of the stria terminalis have been shown to be anxiogenic.

PROJECT SUMMARY A core feature of a number of psychiatric illnesses is the disordered estimation of the predictive relationship between a given cue and an outcome. This failure to appraise and generate appropriate behavioral responses is true for cues that both are rewarding and aversive. For example, in post-traumatic stress disorders innocuous stimuli can elicit intense aversive motivational responses even though these were encountered in a safe and familiar context.