Research Career Programs

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Does the way we hear sounds change when we become parents? This proposal will causally test if hormones involved in parental behavior affect the neural circuitry underlying offspring auditory cue processing in parents. It has long been known that offspring sensory cues, such as baby cries, elicit the necessary and appropriate behavioral responses from parents. How these sounds are encoded by the brain to elicit behavioral responses is not well understood.

Project Summary/Abstract To learn novel actions through reinforcement, a fundamental mechanism of motor learning, the brain needs to causally link previously performed movements to their resulting outcomes.

Project Summary/Abstract The prenatal period is a sensitive and critical time for brain development characterized by waves of neurogenesis, neuronal migration, and formation of neural networks. In the first and second trimester, microglia are the dominant immune cells of the brain and participate in a variety of processes essential to brain development, including secreting neurotropic factors and engulfing apoptotic neural progenitor cells. Fetal microglia dysfunction can lead to aberrant cortical lamination, resulting in an increased risk of brain pathology.

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT To survive, animals must learn appropriate associations between sensory cues and motor actions through a process of trial and error. We expect that this learning will strengthen the synaptic connections between neurons representing the sensory cue and neurons initiating the motor action.

Project Summary/Abstract This proposal aims to delineate the electrical and molecular diversity of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and provide new evidence for receptor-expressing subtypes of SCN neurons using novel nanowire arrays that allow single cell recording at 1024 contacts simultaneously. The SCN is among the most robust and far-reaching networks of the brain.

Project Summary Learning is a fundamental function of the brain: sensory representations must be flexible to adjust to changes in environmental demands and experience, thus allowing us to adapt to the world around us. Understanding the mechanisms of learning are important not only for normal function of the brain but also in disease, for example, after unilateral hearing loss. One important but often overlooked principle of learning is the importance of feedback from other brain areas.

Project Summary/Abstract Candidate Goals and Mission Relevance: The applicant’s broad, long-term objective is to investigate how high- (circuit/behavioral) and low- (subcellular/molecular) level organizational principles of the brain cooperate to drive learning.

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?