Abstract. Cell-level analysis and a growing appreciation of cell-type diversity have transformed our understanding of the brain. Beyond first-order classification of cells as glial or neuronal, excitatory or inhibitory, we now know there are dozens of molecularly-defined cell-types that differ in their morphology, connectivity, physiology, and gene & protein expression.
Project Summary/Abstract The brain is by far the most complex and heterogeneous organ in the human body. For years, there has been a growing and unmet need to develop multielectrode arrays for neurotransmitter sensing in multiple brain regions simultaneously. Disparate brain regions such as the nucleus accumbens, striatum, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and others have been widely known to have greatly varying electrical and neurochemical properties from one another. Until recently, we have been limited by technological capabilities in achieving this goal.
Project Summary Tinnitus or “ringing in the ears” is a hearing disorder that disproportionately impacts those who are or have served in the military. There is currently no effective cure for tinnitus. Patients with tinnitus exhibit broad changes in brain activity in the auditory system and elsewhere. One of the fundamental characteristics of tinnitus is a dysregulation in the excitatory/inhibitory balance in the central auditory system (CAS) leading to neuronal hyperexcitability and synchrony.
PROJECT SUMMARY A consensus has emerged in the Neurosciences over the last decade regarding the critical importance of understanding brain function at the level of neural circuits. Such an understanding can help us bridge across scales of investigation to provide a more comprehensive model of brain function, while also providing a more direct link to the dysfunctions associated with neurological disease.
Abstract: Optogenetics can be used to selectively stimulate or suppress the firing of genetically targeted and spatially targeted mammalian neurons. It is used to study neuropsychiatric diseases in vivo with mouse models of conditions including epilepsy, schizophrenia, and Parkinson's. Optogenetics may be used as functional neurosurgical intervention for correcting disease states in the brain. It has been previously shown that seizures have the ability to be halted or reduced by optogenetic activation of inhibitory neurons with the use of Channelrhodopsin-2.
Project Summary Medical imaging technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) have been widely used in studying the underlying mechanisms of mental illnesses and neurological disorders such as brain tumors, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, and depression, etc. However, PET and MRI scans are almost always ordered as separate studies on separate machines, often resulting in weeks of delay in acquiring critical information about a patient’s disease.
Over the past 15 years, new imaging technologies and methods for high throughput imaging have revolutionized structural biology by extending the resolution and scale of collected images in 3 dimensions. The resulting image volumes are more typically hundreds of GB to even tens of TB and in some cases approach PB sizes. These file sizes pose challenges for image acquisition, image analysis, and communication of a representative set of raw data and quantification. Image acquisition runs can be lengthy and expensive, and often errors are not identified until after the completion of scanning.
Project Summary: The main goal of this research project is to develop a new line of new stereotaxic devices for small animal research that outperforms existing devices in terms of accuracy, reproducibility, and ease of use. Advancing a tool such as an electrode, injection pipette or optical fiber through a small hole in the cranium, sometimes over long distances, and placing it precisely in a particular brain area, often much less than one millimeter in diameter, is a significant experimental challenge.
