2023
All events, 2023
Reprogramming the topology of the nociceptive circuit in C. elegans reshapes sexual behavior
Lecture
Monday, June 12, 2023
Hour: 11:00 - 12:15
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Reprogramming the topology of the nociceptive circuit in C. elegans reshapes sexual behavior
Vladyslava Pechuk
Dr. Meital Oren Lab
The effect of the detailed connectivity of a neural circuit on its function and the resulting
behavior of the organism, is a key question in many neural systems Here, I study the circuit for
nociception in C elegans which is composed of the same neurons in the two sexes, that are wired
differently I set out to elucidate how the topological design of a compact neuronal circuit affects its
behavioral output, how genetic sex affects the connectivity and dynamics of a circuit, and how
specific circuit components orchestrate together to establish the behavioral sexual dimorphism I
used behavioral assays, optogenetics calcium and glutamate imaging, measurement of protein
expression, artificial connectivity, molecular and genetic tools, and show that the nociceptive sensory
neurons respond similarly in the two sexes, yet the animals display sexually dimorphic behaviors to
the same aversive stimuli To uncover the role of the downstream network topology in shaping
behavior, I measured the neuronal activity of a key interneuron, and found dimorphic responses to
the stimulus as well as dimorphic intrinsic basal interneuron activity I then showed that neuron
specific genetic sex plays a role in shaping connectivity and circuit dynamics, and proceed to an
artificial subtle synaptic rewiring which flips behavior between sexes Interestingly, when presented
with aversive cues, rewired males were compromised in finding mating partners, suggesting that
network topologies that enable efficient avoidance of noxious cues have a reproductive " My
results present a deconstruction of the design of a neural circuit that controls sexual behavior, and
how to reprogram it
Local and long-range inputs contributing to sequence generation in the zebra finch
Lecture
Tuesday, June 6, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Local and long-range inputs contributing to sequence generation in the zebra finch
Prof. Michael A. Long
NYU School of Medicine
: A central question in neuroscience is how local processing and long-range influences work together to create behaviorally relevant neural dynamics. We address this issue by examining the song control pathway in the zebra finch. We find sufficient synaptic information is present in a key cortical structure to enable propagation of song-related sequences. We further demonstrate that long-range inputs from the motor thalamus can engage this circuitry in the service of behavior and large-scale brain synchronization. Our findings suggest that thalamic inputs may play an important initiating role for behaviorally-relevant cortical activity across species.
Volatile cortical working memory representations crystalize with practice
Lecture
Thursday, June 1, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Volatile cortical working memory representations crystalize with practice
Prof. Peyman Golshani
David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA
Working memory (WM), the process through which information is transiently maintained and manipulated over a brief period of time, is essential for most cognitive functions. However, the mechanisms underlying the generation and stability of WM neuronal representations at the population level remain elusive. To uncover these mechanisms, we trained head-fixed mice to perform an olfactory working memory task and used optogenetics to delineate circuits causal for behavioral performance. We used mesoscopic and light bead two photon imaging to record from up to 35,000 secondary motor cortical neurons simulataneously across multiple days and show differential stabilization of different task parameters with learning and practice of the task. We find that cortical working memory representations causal for task performance are highly volatile but only stabilize after multiple days of practice well after task learning. We hypothesize that representational drift soon after learning may allow for higher levels of flexibility for new task rules.
I will also review some of the new open-source tools developed for large-scale imaging of neural activity patterns in freely behaving animals.
Cognitive neuroscience of learning and memory in human infants
Lecture
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
Cognitive neuroscience of learning and memory in human infants
Prof. Nick Turk-Browne
Dept of Psychology, Yale University
In this talk, I will present the approach my lab has developed for performing fMRI studies in awake infants during cognitive tasks. I will share some of our recent studies and highlight some of the big open questions that remain to be addressed, with potential to reveal the brain systems underlying how infants perceive and attend to their environment, why infants are such proficient learners, and why we all have amnesia for infant experiences. Despite countless limitations and challenges at present, this work suggests that awake infant fMRI could become more feasible, useful, and ubiquitous in cognitive neuroscience.
The neurocircuit underlying social approach and avoidance behavior
Lecture
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
The neurocircuit underlying social approach and avoidance behavior
Prof. Camilla Bellone
Dept of Basic Neurosciences
Faculty of Medicine University of Geneva
The ability to approach or avoid conspecifics is essential for survival in many species, and the nature of the social interaction often determines it. Positive or rewarding interactions with conspecifics lead individuals to approach them, while aversive or threatening interactions lead individuals to avoid them. The rewarding or aversive nature of these interactions is defined as social valence. I will discuss the neuronal circuits and mechanisms underlying social valance encoding.
Illuminating neural computations with structured light and sound wavefronts
Lecture
Sunday, May 21, 2023
Hour: 12:30
Location:
Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
Illuminating neural computations with structured light and sound wavefronts
Prof. Shy Shoham
Neural Interface Engineering lab, NYU
Features and Objects as Perceptual Attractors: Theory, Paradigm, and Results from The Rat’s Whisker System
Lecture
Monday, May 15, 2023
Hour: 11:00 - 12:15
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Features and Objects as Perceptual Attractors: Theory, Paradigm, and Results from The Rat’s Whisker System
Guy Nelinger, Student Seminar - PhD Thesis Defense
Prof. Ehud Ahissar Lab
Perceivers experience the world around them as organized, with sensory impressions clearly separated into entities. What makes a perceptual object, and what framework relates it to its composing features? A key insight is that under natural conditions, feature and object information is acquired actively, via sensor movements. Motor and sensory variables affect one another reciprocally, forming a closed-loop system. I therefore hypothesize that percepts signifying an object emerge when the motor-sensory loop’s dynamics converge towards a stable attractor. Using snout and whisker tracking data from freely-moving behaving rats, I outline such an attractor for object detection. I demonstrate that whisker-object contact elicits robust signals on a motor-sensory phase-plane, comprised of the derivatives of whisker base-angle and base-curvature. Over consecutive contact epochs, trajectories on the phase-plane converge to a specific area. The area is characterized by a basin of attraction during contact, more so than in free-air whisking. Differences in head-movement behavior are associated with proximity to the attractor, suggesting that the animal makes use of this proposed coding-scheme. Finally, to build upon these insights, I present a novel paradigm for the study of volitional perceptual exploration, in both rewarded and unrewarded contexts. It supports high-resolution study of motor-sensory development starting at birth, throughout task-learning and until mastery. Taken together, these results highlight a novel framework for the study of the perception of features and objects as motor-sensory attractors.
Smell and our unconscious sense of self
Lecture
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Hour: 13:00 - 14:00
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Smell and our unconscious sense of self
Prof. Benjamin D. Young
Institute for Neuroscience University of Nevada, Reno
Benjamin D. Young Ph.D. is an associate professor in philosophy and interdisciplinary neuroscience at the University of Nevada, Reno. Previously he held a Kreitman Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at Ben-Gurion University, as well as Visiting Assistant Professorship and Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Cognitive Science at Hebrew University. He conducts empirically informed philosophical research with a particular emphasis on olfaction focusing on non-conceptual content, qualitative consciousness in the absence of awareness, and the perceptible objects of smell. His most recent projects include co-editing the textbook Mind, Cognition, and Neuroscience and the collection Theoretical Perspectives on Smell. Ben is finishing a book on smell tentatively titled Stinking Philosophy! and beginning to work on a book about the unconscious mind. Previously he showed how olfaction calls into question the general neuroscientific theories of consciousness and the relationship between access and phenomenal consciousness. Dr. Young’s current research extends this framework and examines the role that smell plays in allowing us to recognize our embodied material composition and what we can perceive about others from their smell both with and without subjective awareness.
For more information about Ben’s research see
https://www.unr.edu/philosophy/faculty-staff/benjamin-young
An Innate Immunity Pathway Against Invading Microbes Targets the Paternal Mitochondria for Destruction after Fertilization
Lecture
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Hour: 10:00 - 11:15
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
An Innate Immunity Pathway Against Invading Microbes Targets the Paternal Mitochondria for Destruction after Fertilization
Prof. Eli Arama
Dept of Molecular Genetics, WIS
Nature, nurture, and the neuroscience of parenthood
Lecture
Tuesday, May 2, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
Nature, nurture, and the neuroscience of parenthood
Prof. Bianca Jones Marlin
Zuckerman Institute
Columbia University, New York
Introduction: Bianca Jones Marlin, Ph.D. is a neuroscientist and Herbert and Florence Irving Assistant Professor of Cell Research at the Zuckerman Institute at Columbia University in New York City. Her research investigates how organisms unlock innate behaviors at appropriate times, and how learned information is passed to subsequent generations via transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. Dr. Marlin combines neural imaging, behavior, and molecular genetics to uncover how learned behavior in the parent can become innate behavior in the offspring— work that promises to make a profound impact on societal brain health, mental well-being, and parenting. For more information about Dr. Marlin, visit www.biancajonesmarlin.com
Pages
2023
All events, 2023
Reprogramming the topology of the nociceptive circuit in C. elegans reshapes sexual behavior
Lecture
Monday, June 12, 2023
Hour: 11:00 - 12:15
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Reprogramming the topology of the nociceptive circuit in C. elegans reshapes sexual behavior
Vladyslava Pechuk
Dr. Meital Oren Lab
The effect of the detailed connectivity of a neural circuit on its function and the resulting
behavior of the organism, is a key question in many neural systems Here, I study the circuit for
nociception in C elegans which is composed of the same neurons in the two sexes, that are wired
differently I set out to elucidate how the topological design of a compact neuronal circuit affects its
behavioral output, how genetic sex affects the connectivity and dynamics of a circuit, and how
specific circuit components orchestrate together to establish the behavioral sexual dimorphism I
used behavioral assays, optogenetics calcium and glutamate imaging, measurement of protein
expression, artificial connectivity, molecular and genetic tools, and show that the nociceptive sensory
neurons respond similarly in the two sexes, yet the animals display sexually dimorphic behaviors to
the same aversive stimuli To uncover the role of the downstream network topology in shaping
behavior, I measured the neuronal activity of a key interneuron, and found dimorphic responses to
the stimulus as well as dimorphic intrinsic basal interneuron activity I then showed that neuron
specific genetic sex plays a role in shaping connectivity and circuit dynamics, and proceed to an
artificial subtle synaptic rewiring which flips behavior between sexes Interestingly, when presented
with aversive cues, rewired males were compromised in finding mating partners, suggesting that
network topologies that enable efficient avoidance of noxious cues have a reproductive " My
results present a deconstruction of the design of a neural circuit that controls sexual behavior, and
how to reprogram it
Local and long-range inputs contributing to sequence generation in the zebra finch
Lecture
Tuesday, June 6, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Local and long-range inputs contributing to sequence generation in the zebra finch
Prof. Michael A. Long
NYU School of Medicine
: A central question in neuroscience is how local processing and long-range influences work together to create behaviorally relevant neural dynamics. We address this issue by examining the song control pathway in the zebra finch. We find sufficient synaptic information is present in a key cortical structure to enable propagation of song-related sequences. We further demonstrate that long-range inputs from the motor thalamus can engage this circuitry in the service of behavior and large-scale brain synchronization. Our findings suggest that thalamic inputs may play an important initiating role for behaviorally-relevant cortical activity across species.
Volatile cortical working memory representations crystalize with practice
Lecture
Thursday, June 1, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Volatile cortical working memory representations crystalize with practice
Prof. Peyman Golshani
David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA
Working memory (WM), the process through which information is transiently maintained and manipulated over a brief period of time, is essential for most cognitive functions. However, the mechanisms underlying the generation and stability of WM neuronal representations at the population level remain elusive. To uncover these mechanisms, we trained head-fixed mice to perform an olfactory working memory task and used optogenetics to delineate circuits causal for behavioral performance. We used mesoscopic and light bead two photon imaging to record from up to 35,000 secondary motor cortical neurons simulataneously across multiple days and show differential stabilization of different task parameters with learning and practice of the task. We find that cortical working memory representations causal for task performance are highly volatile but only stabilize after multiple days of practice well after task learning. We hypothesize that representational drift soon after learning may allow for higher levels of flexibility for new task rules.
I will also review some of the new open-source tools developed for large-scale imaging of neural activity patterns in freely behaving animals.
Cognitive neuroscience of learning and memory in human infants
Lecture
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
Cognitive neuroscience of learning and memory in human infants
Prof. Nick Turk-Browne
Dept of Psychology, Yale University
In this talk, I will present the approach my lab has developed for performing fMRI studies in awake infants during cognitive tasks. I will share some of our recent studies and highlight some of the big open questions that remain to be addressed, with potential to reveal the brain systems underlying how infants perceive and attend to their environment, why infants are such proficient learners, and why we all have amnesia for infant experiences. Despite countless limitations and challenges at present, this work suggests that awake infant fMRI could become more feasible, useful, and ubiquitous in cognitive neuroscience.
The neurocircuit underlying social approach and avoidance behavior
Lecture
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
The neurocircuit underlying social approach and avoidance behavior
Prof. Camilla Bellone
Dept of Basic Neurosciences
Faculty of Medicine University of Geneva
The ability to approach or avoid conspecifics is essential for survival in many species, and the nature of the social interaction often determines it. Positive or rewarding interactions with conspecifics lead individuals to approach them, while aversive or threatening interactions lead individuals to avoid them. The rewarding or aversive nature of these interactions is defined as social valence. I will discuss the neuronal circuits and mechanisms underlying social valance encoding.
Illuminating neural computations with structured light and sound wavefronts
Lecture
Sunday, May 21, 2023
Hour: 12:30
Location:
Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
Illuminating neural computations with structured light and sound wavefronts
Prof. Shy Shoham
Neural Interface Engineering lab, NYU
Features and Objects as Perceptual Attractors: Theory, Paradigm, and Results from The Rat’s Whisker System
Lecture
Monday, May 15, 2023
Hour: 11:00 - 12:15
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Features and Objects as Perceptual Attractors: Theory, Paradigm, and Results from The Rat’s Whisker System
Guy Nelinger, Student Seminar - PhD Thesis Defense
Prof. Ehud Ahissar Lab
Perceivers experience the world around them as organized, with sensory impressions clearly separated into entities. What makes a perceptual object, and what framework relates it to its composing features? A key insight is that under natural conditions, feature and object information is acquired actively, via sensor movements. Motor and sensory variables affect one another reciprocally, forming a closed-loop system. I therefore hypothesize that percepts signifying an object emerge when the motor-sensory loop’s dynamics converge towards a stable attractor. Using snout and whisker tracking data from freely-moving behaving rats, I outline such an attractor for object detection. I demonstrate that whisker-object contact elicits robust signals on a motor-sensory phase-plane, comprised of the derivatives of whisker base-angle and base-curvature. Over consecutive contact epochs, trajectories on the phase-plane converge to a specific area. The area is characterized by a basin of attraction during contact, more so than in free-air whisking. Differences in head-movement behavior are associated with proximity to the attractor, suggesting that the animal makes use of this proposed coding-scheme. Finally, to build upon these insights, I present a novel paradigm for the study of volitional perceptual exploration, in both rewarded and unrewarded contexts. It supports high-resolution study of motor-sensory development starting at birth, throughout task-learning and until mastery. Taken together, these results highlight a novel framework for the study of the perception of features and objects as motor-sensory attractors.
Smell and our unconscious sense of self
Lecture
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Hour: 13:00 - 14:00
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Smell and our unconscious sense of self
Prof. Benjamin D. Young
Institute for Neuroscience University of Nevada, Reno
Benjamin D. Young Ph.D. is an associate professor in philosophy and interdisciplinary neuroscience at the University of Nevada, Reno. Previously he held a Kreitman Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at Ben-Gurion University, as well as Visiting Assistant Professorship and Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Cognitive Science at Hebrew University. He conducts empirically informed philosophical research with a particular emphasis on olfaction focusing on non-conceptual content, qualitative consciousness in the absence of awareness, and the perceptible objects of smell. His most recent projects include co-editing the textbook Mind, Cognition, and Neuroscience and the collection Theoretical Perspectives on Smell. Ben is finishing a book on smell tentatively titled Stinking Philosophy! and beginning to work on a book about the unconscious mind. Previously he showed how olfaction calls into question the general neuroscientific theories of consciousness and the relationship between access and phenomenal consciousness. Dr. Young’s current research extends this framework and examines the role that smell plays in allowing us to recognize our embodied material composition and what we can perceive about others from their smell both with and without subjective awareness.
For more information about Ben’s research see
https://www.unr.edu/philosophy/faculty-staff/benjamin-young
An Innate Immunity Pathway Against Invading Microbes Targets the Paternal Mitochondria for Destruction after Fertilization
Lecture
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Hour: 10:00 - 11:15
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
An Innate Immunity Pathway Against Invading Microbes Targets the Paternal Mitochondria for Destruction after Fertilization
Prof. Eli Arama
Dept of Molecular Genetics, WIS
Nature, nurture, and the neuroscience of parenthood
Lecture
Tuesday, May 2, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
Nature, nurture, and the neuroscience of parenthood
Prof. Bianca Jones Marlin
Zuckerman Institute
Columbia University, New York
Introduction: Bianca Jones Marlin, Ph.D. is a neuroscientist and Herbert and Florence Irving Assistant Professor of Cell Research at the Zuckerman Institute at Columbia University in New York City. Her research investigates how organisms unlock innate behaviors at appropriate times, and how learned information is passed to subsequent generations via transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. Dr. Marlin combines neural imaging, behavior, and molecular genetics to uncover how learned behavior in the parent can become innate behavior in the offspring— work that promises to make a profound impact on societal brain health, mental well-being, and parenting. For more information about Dr. Marlin, visit www.biancajonesmarlin.com
Pages
2023
All events, 2023
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