SCGB NY-Area Postdoc Meeting
Date and time
Location
Flatiron Institute
162 5th Avenue 3rd Floor New York, NY 10010Description
The Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain hosts a postdoc-focused NYC-area group meeting every other month to bring together postdocs interested in neural coding and dynamics, to discuss ideas and data.
PLEASE NOTE THE LOCATION AND TIME: 162 5th Ave, 3rd Floor, in the Flatiron Institute, 5:30 pm
The meeting is co-organized by Katie Ferguson (Yale) and Jorge Jaramillo (NYU). The speakers this month are:
Jennifer Crodelle
Curant Institute, NYU, Laboratory of David McLaughlin
Modeling visual circuit development in mice through synaptic plasticity
The mammalian primary visual cortex (V1) contains neurons that respond preferentially to oriented visual stimuli (e.g., horizontal bars). In the mouse, these orientation-preferring neurons are scattered throughout V1 in what's called a ``salt and pepper'' orientation-preference (OP) map. Despite the seemingly random distribution of OPs in the visual cortex of mice, it has been shown that radially-distributed clonally-related cells show similar stimulus feature selectivity, as well as preferential synaptic connectivity with fellow sister cells. Importantly, each of these characteristics relies on gap-junction coupling between sister cells during the first postnatal week. We construct an idealized model of the mouse visual cortex during the first two postnatal weeks of development and analyze the effect of gap-junction coupling on the formation of synaptic connections both into and within V1. In particular, we use this model to propose a role for gap-junction coupling between sister cells in facilitating the formation of the salt-and-pepper OP that is typical of the adult mouse visual cortex.
Xu An
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Laboratory of Josh Huang
Cortical circuits for coordinating food handling and manipulation
Among brain functions ranging from perception and cognition to action, the control of complex movement is the only means through which animals impact their environment and the world. In both rodents and primates, food handling and manipulation using synergistic hand-mouth maneuvering is necessary for feeding and requires online sensorimotor coordination as well as dexterous motor control; the underlying neural circuit mechanisms are not understood. We carried out a systematic optogenetic screen of pyramidal neuron (PyN) projection types and cortical areas that induce forelimb and orofacial movements in the mouse. We define a rostral forelimb orofacial area (RFO), where activation of Fezf2 corticofugal PyNs (PyNFezf2) and PlexinD1 cortico-striatal PyNs (PyNPlexD1) induced highly coordinated forelimb and orofacial movements resembling feeding. We further reveal a caudal forelimb orofacial area (CFO), where activation of Tle4 cortico-thalamic PyNs (PyNTle4) induced similar action. Antero- and retro-grade tracing from these PyN types in RFO and CFO depict a highly connected cortical network involving primary and secondary sensory and motor areas of the forelimb and orofacial regions. Pharmacological and optogenetic inactivation of RFO and/or CFO PyNs impairs hand maneuvering and hand-mouth synergy during food handing and manipulation in free-moving mice. These results begin to implicate specific neuron types, cortical circuits and brain systems in sensorimotor coordination for object manipulation.
Schedule:
5:30 guests arrive, drinks and snacks available
6:00-6:40 Talk 1 and Q&A
6:40-7:20 Talk 2 and Q&A
7:20-8:30 Dinner, drinks, and discussion
Dinner and beverages will be served. Please forward this to colleagues that you think will be interested. We look forward to seeing you there!
If you would like to sign up for a spot as a speaker at the 2019-2020 meetings, please fill out the application form here
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Organized by
Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain: Neuroscience research has relied heavily on studying sensation and action: how sensory stimuli are detected and perceived, and how movements are produced. But much of what goes on in the brain is internal — states that control motivation and bias decisions, representations of remembered events, and cognitive explorations. A primary goal of the Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain (SCGB) is to expand our understanding of the role of internal brain processes in the arc from sensation to action, thereby discovering the nature, role and mechanisms of the neural activity that produces cognition.
Because internal brain processes are not directly linked to the outside world through sensation or action, they are difficult to study. However, technological advances are rapidly changing our ability to observe and manipulate brain activity on the level of circuits of many neurons. This allows us to recognize internal brain states from the activity alone, and to modify these states during behavior, unprecedented in the history of brain research.
The vast amount of data becoming available with novel technologies necessitates mathematical approaches for its analysis and understanding. Mathematical approaches provide tools for the study of interactions of many neurons. Thus, through the marriage of mathematical techniques with emerging technologies, the field is poised to uncover a mechanistic understanding of internal brain processes.
With newly emerging techniques for both the collection of the right datasets and the means to analyze them, the time is right to propel this field forward. To do this, the SCGB seeks to build a cohesive and interactive multi-disciplinary community of scientists focused on furthering our understanding of higher brain function.