Faculty
Research Summary
Our current interests include the intrinsic mechanisms of thalamic development and the roles of thalamic input in neocortical development. We extensively use mouse genetics and in vivo gene delivery into developing embryos. Efforts in our lab are directed at two major goals: We are trying to understand how the developing thalamus produces different neuronal populations that later form distinct nuclei. We have characterized the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of progenitor cell populations in the thalamus. We are now trying to reveal molecular mechanisms that regulate such heterogeneity. Some of our recent works have determined the roles of Sonic hedgehog and Wnt signaling in this process, and how these intrinsic patterning mechanisms eventually affect the formation of thalamic nuclei in mice. We are trying to examine the roles of thalamocortical projections in the formation of functionally and anatomically distinct sensory areas in neocortex. To dissect local patterning mechanisms operating within neocortex and extrinsic mechanisms conveyed by the thalamic input, we are analyzing mutant mice in which certain thalamic nuclei are specifically alerted in size or the entire thalamocortical projections are compromised. Using these mice, we will determine the precise roles of thalamic afferents in neocortical development.
Contact
Address
6-145 Jackson Hall321 Church Street S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Research Summary
Our lab studies the computations that make it possible to see and think. Taking inspiration from the tools and concepts of AI, we use computational models to bridge observations of brain activity at many spatial and temporal scales, from fMRI in humans to 2-photon microscopy in animal models.We are especially interested in the generative capabilities of the visual system. Much of life is spent imagining or dreaming of internal images that one has never actually observed. Why is the visual system so good at generating images, and how does this remarkable ability help us to see? We are addressing this question by monitoring the human brain as it engages complex, real-world scenery and as it calls upon memory to generate mental images.
Research Summary
Physiology and function of glial cells Research in our laboratory focuses on the physiology of glial cells and on interactions between glia, neurons and blood vessels in the central nervous system. Glia have traditionally been viewed as passive, housekeeper cells in the brain. This view has been overturned in recent years as studies have demonstrated that glial cells have many essential functions in the CNS and may actively participate in information processing.We are studying several aspects of glial cell function, including i) neuronal activation of glial cells, ii) glial cell modulation of neuronal excitability and synaptic transmission, iii) calcium signaling within and between glial cells, and iv) glial cell regulation of blood flow.We have demonstrated that astrocytes and Müller cells, the two macroglial cells of the retina, generate both spontaneous and neuron-evoked calcium signals. These calcium signals, in turn, lead to the release of transmitters from glial cells, resulting in the modulation of neuronal excitability. We are currently studying how these glial signals affect information processing in the retina. We are also studying how pathology affects glial calcium signaling.We have shown that factors released from glial cells regulate blood flow in the retina. Light stimulation or direct activation of glial cells results in the release of arachidonic acid metabolites. Some of these metabolites constrict while others dilate vessels. We are studying how glia to vessel signaling is modulated and the role that glial cells play in controlling blood flow.We use the mammalian retina as a model system for studying glia-neuron-vessel interactions. Our work utilizes several retinal preparations, including the eyecup, whole-mount retina and dissociated single cells. Confocal imaging of glial cell Ca2+, imaging of ATP and glutamate release from glial cells, whole-cell patch-clamp recording and micro-ejection techniques are employed. We use transgenic mouse lines to study glial cell function in collaboration with Dr. Paulo Kofuji.
Contact
Address
6-145 Jac H321 Church Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Research Summary
Neural control of cognitivo-motor behavior The work done in my laboratory is aimed at understanding the neural mechanisms associated with the processing of information that leads to the production of movements. For this purpose, we combine psychophysical and neurophysiological approaches. The current projects concern (1) how the brain deals with uncertainty during motor planning; (2) the decoding of brain signals for brain-machine interface applications.
Bio
David Redish is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Department of Neuroscience. He and his team explore the computational processes that underlie decision-making. His research addresses questions of addiction from the perspective of addiction as dysfunctions in those decision-making processes. His research interests span the neurophysiology of behavior, including computational, experimental, theoretical, and clinical approaches. His laboratory has major research efforts in theoretical explanations of the interactions of multiple decision-making systems, in the neurophysiology of the information processing in those decision-making systems, and in the clinical consequences of dysfunction in those decision-making systems. Through collaborations with other neuroscientists and psychologists translating their novel decision tasks to human populations, and clinicians testing consequences of their proposed explanations for dysfunction, Dr. Redish and his team explore the similarities and differences across species as a means of understanding addiction and its treatment.
Research Summary
Behavior, decision-making and information processing in neural systems My lab has two main research objectives. The first is to further our understanding of how multiple learning and memory systems interact to produce behavior. The second is to apply the theories that arise from the neurophysiology and computational modeling to explain dysfunctional and broken behavioral-control systems, as occurs in addiction. To meet these objectives, the lab combines multi-electrode neural ensemble recordings from awake, behaving animals with complex computational analysis techniques that enable measurement of neural dynamics at very fast time scales (e.g. msec). The lab also builds computational models at all scales (single-neuron compartmental models to large-scale systemic models to abstract algorithmic models) to connect the multiple levels of neurophysiology and behavior. Modern neuroscience sees the brain as an information-processing device.Understanding how the brain processes information requires understanding the representations used by the network of neurons that compose the brain. However, representations in the brain are distributed: each cell carries only a small portion of the total information. I am interested in questions of how neural structures work together to create systems able to accomplish behavioral tasks.More specifically, we have ongoing projects inthe dynamics of neural ensemble activity in multiple systems (hippocampus, dorsal, ventral striatum, orbitofrontal cortex) during learning, the interaction between multiple learning systems (such as hippocampus and striatum) in the ability to accomplish complex tasks, computational models of addiction and other disorders. Read more about research objectives and projects on the Redish Lab site
Contact
Address
420 Washington Ave.Minneapolis, MN 55455
Bio
Jocelyn received her BA in psychobiology from Occidental College, where she worked in the lab of Nancy Dess, and completed her PhD at the University of Michigan in Kent Berridge's laboratory. Jocelyn conducted her postdoctoral work with Howard Fields at UCSF, and Patricia Janak at Johns Hopkins University, where she focused on dissecting the functional contributions of activity in ventral pallidal neurons to reward seeking behavior. She is particularly interested in how the brain generates signals related to learning, affect and motivation, and how these signals are altered in models of addiction and neuropsychiatric disease. These questions are the focus of her lab's work at the University of Minnesota.
Research Summary
The central goal of research in my lab is to understand how external cues and internal states act together to modulate motivated behaviors. We aim to identify neural circuits underlying positively- and negatively-valenced motivated behaviors, and to determine how states such as withdrawal, stress, pleasure and arousal impact this circuitry to modulate the intensity and form of cue-elicited motivational states and actions, especially in models of drug and alcohol abuse. Specific questions include: Where and how are motivation and value encoded in the brain? What are the neural and psychological building blocks that contribute to motivated behavior? How do these circuits contribute to alcohol abuse and relapse?
Contact
Address
3-220 MTRFMinneapolis, MN 55455-3007
Bio
Patrick Rothwell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience. His research lab investigates the synaptic organization and behavioral function of basal ganglia circuits in health and disease. His interests include regulation of these circuits by endogenous opioid signaling, as well as the detrimental effects of chronic exposure to exogenous opioids, with a broad goal of reducing the abuse liability of opioid-based clinical therapies.
Research Summary
Modulation of striatal circuits in health and disease Brain disorders and mental illness represent a tremendous social and economic burden, with few effective treatments. The goal of our research is to identify the causes of brain conditions, and develop interventions to restore healthy function using synaptic plasticity and neuromodulation. We study the striatum, and important brain region for both simple and complex movements and cognitive functions. The striatum contains a variety of cell types, which receive synaptic input from many different sources and relay information through the basal ganglia. We examine the function of neural circuits formed by striatal synapses that connect specific sources and targets. Our multidisciplinary approach includes quantitative analysis of gene expression; genetic and molecular manipulations of neural circuits; measurement of synaptic function and plasticity using electrophysiology; and optogenetic stimulation of circuits in brain slices and behaving animals. Our current research focuses on autism spectrum disorders and drug addiction - two brain conditions that affect overlapping elements of striatal circuitry.
Research Summary
Environmental cues, through their association with rewards, can acquire powerful control over motivation to spur and invigorate behavior. This process, while fundamental to survive, can go awry, leading to aberrant motivation that can underlie a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as addiction. The central goals of the Saunders Laboratory are to understand 1) how the brain generates and controls motivation during reward seeking, 2) how these processes are altered in disease states, and 3) why some individuals, but not others, develop motivational diseases. We utilize in a variety of techniques for mapping, controlling, and measuring the activity of neural circuits, including optogenetics, pharmacology, calcium imaging, and immunohistochemistry and microscopy, in rodents. These methods are integrated with detailed assessment of behavior in conditioning paradigms of natural (i.e., food) reward and drug seeking, to identify how brain circuits represent and control different components of motivation.
Contact
Address
3-224 MTRFMinneapolis, MN 55455-3007
Research Summary
Neuorphysiology of motor control, Functional MRI of cognitive processes
Grants and Patents
Selected Grants
Contact
Address
312 Church St SEMinneapolis, MN 55455
Bio
Gordon received his B.S. from Duke University and his Ph.D. from MIT, where he worked with Dr. Mark Bear to settle a long-running debate on the mechanisms of ocular dominance plasticity by demonstrating in vivo a requirement for homosynaptic LTD in the loss of visual responses. As a post-doc with Dr. David Fitzpatrick at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, he developed cutting edge in vivo imaging techniques that permit following the plasticity of both single neurons and large populations across development. By applying these tools to address the seemingly contradictory effects of correlated neural activity—which both drives circuit formation but also limits sensory information—he demonstrated for the first time a developmental decrease in correlated activity within a neural population, and showed that this leads to an increase in stimulus discrimination within the population.
Research Summary
Development of visual cortical circuits How are the neural circuits that process sensory information built during the course of development? As the development of a circuit inevitably constrains its future function, addressing this question is critical to understanding both the function of mature circuits and how neurodevelopmental disorders give rise to sensory deficits. The Smith Lab uses advanced optical imaging techniques in the developing visual cortex to investigate how large populations of neurons form the networks required to process visual information. Ongoing projects include: Distributed functional networks in early development Ongoing work has shown that large-scale distributed functional networks spanning millimeters exist in visual cortex well before they can be visually driven. We're working to determine the circuit mechanisms that give rise to these early networks and guide their refinement during development. Intracortical inhibition and network formation Network function critically depends on the structure and organization of inhibition within the network, but little is known about the organization of inhibition in developing cortical networks. Using novel viral tools, we're measuring and manipulating inhibitory neurons in the early cortex. How does early SA sculpt future perception? Correlated activity in early development is a critical driver of circuit formation and future perceptual processing. We're using cutting edge optical approaches to explore the causal role of early patterned network activity in visual processing, and determine whether abnormal spontaneous activity is a common theme linking neurodevelopmental disorders.
Contact
Address
2021 6th St SEMinneapolis, MN 55455-3007