Past events | The department of Brain Sciences

All events, All years

Emergence of behaviorally relevant motifs in the human cortex

Lecture

Date:

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Dr. Tomer Livne

|

Consultant, Prof. Dov Sagi Group Cortica Ltd, Tel Aviv

Neural circuits for defensive responses

Lecture

Date:

Monday, April 9, 2018

Hour: 12:45

Location:

Nella and Leon Benoziyo Building for Brain Research

Dr. Philip Tovote

|

Institute of Clinical Neurobiology, Wurzburg University, Germany

Behavioral responses to threat encompass evolutionarily conserved active or passive defensive motor responses, such as flight and freezing, respectively. Brain-wide distributed neural circuits mediate top-down control of the defense reaction and interact with ascending pathways that transmit interoceptive information from the periphery. Defensive action selection has been modelled around the concept of threat imminence, but the circuit mechanisms mediating different defensive behaviors and the switch between them remain unclear. The seminar will present a circuit-centered systems neuroscience approach to characterize the neural circuits for defensive responses with a focus on the central nucleus of the amygdala (CEA) and midbrain periaqueductal grey (PAG), whose output selection is mediated by integration of local microcircuit interactions and external inputs. Our findings demonstrate that defensive action selection is a cue- and context dependent, multi-site process involving complex functional motifs within evolutionary old, mammalian “survival circuits”.

Visualizing Synapse Formation and Elimination in vivo

Lecture

Date:

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Elly Nedivi

|

The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory Dept of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The introduction of two-photon microscopy for in vivo imaging has opened the door to chronic monitoring of individual neurons in the adult brain and the study of structural plasticity mechanisms at a very fine scale. Perhaps the biggest contribution of this modern anatomical method has been the discovery that even across the stable excitatory dendritic scaffold there is significant capacity for synaptic remodeling, and that synaptic structural rearrangements are a key mechanism mediating neural circuit adaptation and behavioral plasticity in the adult. To monitor the extent and nature of excitatory and inhibitory synapse dynamics on individual L2/3 pyramidal neurons in mouse visual cortex in vivo, we labeled these neurons with a fluorescent cell fill as well as the fluorescently tagged synaptic scaffolding molecules, Teal-Gephyrin to label inhibitory synapses, and mCherry-PSD-95 to label excitatory synapses. We simultaneously tracked the daily dynamics of both synapse types using spectrally resolved two-photon microscopy. We found that aside from the lower magnitude of excitatory synaptic changes in the adult, as compared to inhibitory ones, excitatory synapse dynamics appear to follow a different logic than inhibitory dynamics. While excitatory dynamics seem to follow a sampling strategy to search for and create connections with new presynaptic partners, inhibitory synapse dynamics likely serve to locally modulate gain at specific cellular locales.

Prof. Itzchak Steinberg Memorial Symposium

Conference

Date:

Monday, March 26, 2018

Hour: 08:00

Location:

Dolfi and Lola Ebner Auditorium

Principles of neural coding for efficient navigation in gradients

Lecture

Date:

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Dr. Alon Zaslaver

|

Dept of Genetics, The Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Edmond J. Safra Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Animal ability to effectively locate and navigate towards food sources is central for survival. Here, using C. elegans nematodes, we revealed a previously unknown mechanism underlying efficient navigation in chemical gradients. This mechanism relies on the orchestrated dynamics of two types of chemosensory neurons: one coding gradients via stochastic pulsatile dynamics, and the second coding the gradients deterministically in a graded manner. The pulsatile dynamics obeys a novel principle where the activity adapts to the magnitude of the gradient derivative, allowing animals to take trajectories better oriented towards the target. The robust response of the second neuron to negative derivatives promotes immediate turns, thus alleviating costs of erroneous turns possibly incurred by the first neuron. This mechanism empowers an efficient navigation strategy which outperforms the classical biased-random walk strategy. Importantly, this mechanism is generalizable and other sensory modalities may use similar principles for efficient gradient-based navigation.

The robot vibrissal system: Understanding mammalian sensorimotor co-ordination through biomimetics

Lecture

Date:

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Hour: 12:45

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Tony Prescott

|

Director of Sheffield Robotics, UK Dept of Computer Science, University of Sheffield

This talk will consider the problem of sensorimotor co-ordination in mammals through the lens of vibrissal touch, and via the methodology of embodied computational neuroscience—using biomimetic robots to synthesize and investigate models of mammalian brain architecture. I will consider five major brain sub-systems from the perspective of their likely role in vibrissal system function—superior colliculus, basal ganglia, somatosensory cortex, cerebellum, and hippocampus. With respect to each of these sub-systems, the talk will illustrate how embodied modelling has helped elucidate their likely function in the brain of awake behaving animals, and will demonstrate how the appropriate co-ordination of these sub-systems, within a model of brain architecture, can give rise to integrated behaviour in life-like whiskered robots.

From synaptic plasticity to primate cognition

Lecture

Date:

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Hour: 11:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Mu-ming Poo

|

Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai

“Imaging the Future: How Neuroimaging Might Better People’s Lives”

Lecture

Date:

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research

Prof. John Gabrieli

|

McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT

The lecture will be directly followed by an open meeting for all members of the brain imaging community in Israel where we will discuss access to the 7-Tesla magnet that is at the heart of the national center. If you want to scan at 7T, please attend.

Role of pituicytes, the resident astroglia of the neurohypophysis in neuro-vascular development

Lecture

Date:

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Gil Levkowitz

|

Dept of Molecular Cell Biology, WIS

The hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal system (HNS) is an evolutionarily conserved neuroendocrine interface through which the brain regulates body homeostasis by means of releasing neuro-hormones (i.e. oxytocin and vasopressin) from the hypothalamus to the blood circulation. The basic components of the HNS are the hypothalamic axonal projections, endothelial blood vessels and astroglial-like cells, termed pituicytes. These three tissue types converge and interact at the ventral forebrain to establish an efficient neuro-vascular interface, which allows the release of neurohormones from the brain to the periphery. In contrast to BBB-containing CNS vessels, neurohypophyseal capillaries are permeable, which enables bypassing the BBB to transfer HNS hormones and blood-borne substances between brain and circulation. I will present our recent molecular and functional analysis that revealed a new role for pituicytes, in establishing a permeable neuro-vascular conduit that bypasses the BBB.

In silico cortical microcircuit: Emergent global topology and “practical use”

Lecture

Date:

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Idan Segev

|

ELSC, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Huge efforts are presently invested in several teams worldwide to digitally replicate, in details, large-scale brain circuits and then simulate their activity in the computer. Why? What type of understanding could emerge from such simulated brain-replicas? I will argue that such a replication/simulation process is unavoidable if we are to understand brain dynamics and circuit topology. Specifically, showing that the global ‘innate” topology of local cortical circuits emerges from the geometrical asymmetry of individual cortical neurones and that detailed simulations of cortical circuits provide novel insights into experimental results. Finally, I will introduce a new project on human cortical neurones and circuits, aiming to explore “What makes us human”.

Pages

All events, All years

Visualizing Synapse Formation and Elimination in vivo

Lecture

Date:

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Elly Nedivi

|

The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory Dept of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The introduction of two-photon microscopy for in vivo imaging has opened the door to chronic monitoring of individual neurons in the adult brain and the study of structural plasticity mechanisms at a very fine scale. Perhaps the biggest contribution of this modern anatomical method has been the discovery that even across the stable excitatory dendritic scaffold there is significant capacity for synaptic remodeling, and that synaptic structural rearrangements are a key mechanism mediating neural circuit adaptation and behavioral plasticity in the adult. To monitor the extent and nature of excitatory and inhibitory synapse dynamics on individual L2/3 pyramidal neurons in mouse visual cortex in vivo, we labeled these neurons with a fluorescent cell fill as well as the fluorescently tagged synaptic scaffolding molecules, Teal-Gephyrin to label inhibitory synapses, and mCherry-PSD-95 to label excitatory synapses. We simultaneously tracked the daily dynamics of both synapse types using spectrally resolved two-photon microscopy. We found that aside from the lower magnitude of excitatory synaptic changes in the adult, as compared to inhibitory ones, excitatory synapse dynamics appear to follow a different logic than inhibitory dynamics. While excitatory dynamics seem to follow a sampling strategy to search for and create connections with new presynaptic partners, inhibitory synapse dynamics likely serve to locally modulate gain at specific cellular locales.

Principles of neural coding for efficient navigation in gradients

Lecture

Date:

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Dr. Alon Zaslaver

|

Dept of Genetics, The Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Edmond J. Safra Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Animal ability to effectively locate and navigate towards food sources is central for survival. Here, using C. elegans nematodes, we revealed a previously unknown mechanism underlying efficient navigation in chemical gradients. This mechanism relies on the orchestrated dynamics of two types of chemosensory neurons: one coding gradients via stochastic pulsatile dynamics, and the second coding the gradients deterministically in a graded manner. The pulsatile dynamics obeys a novel principle where the activity adapts to the magnitude of the gradient derivative, allowing animals to take trajectories better oriented towards the target. The robust response of the second neuron to negative derivatives promotes immediate turns, thus alleviating costs of erroneous turns possibly incurred by the first neuron. This mechanism empowers an efficient navigation strategy which outperforms the classical biased-random walk strategy. Importantly, this mechanism is generalizable and other sensory modalities may use similar principles for efficient gradient-based navigation.

The robot vibrissal system: Understanding mammalian sensorimotor co-ordination through biomimetics

Lecture

Date:

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Hour: 12:45

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Tony Prescott

|

Director of Sheffield Robotics, UK Dept of Computer Science, University of Sheffield

This talk will consider the problem of sensorimotor co-ordination in mammals through the lens of vibrissal touch, and via the methodology of embodied computational neuroscience—using biomimetic robots to synthesize and investigate models of mammalian brain architecture. I will consider five major brain sub-systems from the perspective of their likely role in vibrissal system function—superior colliculus, basal ganglia, somatosensory cortex, cerebellum, and hippocampus. With respect to each of these sub-systems, the talk will illustrate how embodied modelling has helped elucidate their likely function in the brain of awake behaving animals, and will demonstrate how the appropriate co-ordination of these sub-systems, within a model of brain architecture, can give rise to integrated behaviour in life-like whiskered robots.

From synaptic plasticity to primate cognition

Lecture

Date:

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Hour: 11:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Mu-ming Poo

|

Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai

“Imaging the Future: How Neuroimaging Might Better People’s Lives”

Lecture

Date:

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research

Prof. John Gabrieli

|

McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT

The lecture will be directly followed by an open meeting for all members of the brain imaging community in Israel where we will discuss access to the 7-Tesla magnet that is at the heart of the national center. If you want to scan at 7T, please attend.

Role of pituicytes, the resident astroglia of the neurohypophysis in neuro-vascular development

Lecture

Date:

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Gil Levkowitz

|

Dept of Molecular Cell Biology, WIS

The hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal system (HNS) is an evolutionarily conserved neuroendocrine interface through which the brain regulates body homeostasis by means of releasing neuro-hormones (i.e. oxytocin and vasopressin) from the hypothalamus to the blood circulation. The basic components of the HNS are the hypothalamic axonal projections, endothelial blood vessels and astroglial-like cells, termed pituicytes. These three tissue types converge and interact at the ventral forebrain to establish an efficient neuro-vascular interface, which allows the release of neurohormones from the brain to the periphery. In contrast to BBB-containing CNS vessels, neurohypophyseal capillaries are permeable, which enables bypassing the BBB to transfer HNS hormones and blood-borne substances between brain and circulation. I will present our recent molecular and functional analysis that revealed a new role for pituicytes, in establishing a permeable neuro-vascular conduit that bypasses the BBB.

In silico cortical microcircuit: Emergent global topology and “practical use”

Lecture

Date:

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Idan Segev

|

ELSC, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Huge efforts are presently invested in several teams worldwide to digitally replicate, in details, large-scale brain circuits and then simulate their activity in the computer. Why? What type of understanding could emerge from such simulated brain-replicas? I will argue that such a replication/simulation process is unavoidable if we are to understand brain dynamics and circuit topology. Specifically, showing that the global ‘innate” topology of local cortical circuits emerges from the geometrical asymmetry of individual cortical neurones and that detailed simulations of cortical circuits provide novel insights into experimental results. Finally, I will introduce a new project on human cortical neurones and circuits, aiming to explore “What makes us human”.

Building cortical networks: from molecules to function

Lecture

Date:

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Beatriz Rico

|

MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King’s College London

Understanding brain function and dysfunction begins with the knowledge of how neuronal connections are established and organised in functional networks. To address this question my lab is focused in three main questions: 1) How are the mammalian cortical networks built, 2) how do they response to activity and, 3) What are the functional consequences of disrupting the development of cortical circuitries.

Brain-immune interactions: from brain to gut

Lecture

Date:

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Dr. Asya Rolls

|

Rappaport Medical School, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa

Increasing evidence indicates that the brain can control immunity. But how is the brain informed of the state of the immune response? What information is available to the brain regarding the immune system, and how do these essential systems communicate and interact? In this talk, I will try to bridge these gaps. I will demonstrate how specific activity in the brain affects the immune response, and how the peripheral nervous system can convey signals from the brain to the periphery to regulate immunity.

Neuroimaging in human drug addiction: an eye towards intervention development

Lecture

Date:

Monday, February 5, 2018

Hour: 12:45

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Rita Z. Goldstein, PhD

|

Professor, Dept of Psychiatry and Dept of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute Chief, Neuropsychoimaging of Addiction and Related Conditions (NARC) Research Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY

Drug addiction is a chronically relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive drug use despite catastrophic personal consequences (e.g., loss of family, job) and even when the substance is no longer perceived as pleasurable. In this talk, I will present results of human neuroimaging studies, utilizing a multimodal approach (neuropsychology, functional magnetic resonance imaging, event-related potentials recordings), to explore the neurobiology underlying the core psychological impairments in drug addiction (impulsivity, drive/motivation, insight/awareness) as associated with its clinical symptomatology (intoxication, craving, bingeing, withdrawal). The focus of this talk is on understanding the role of the dopaminergic mesocorticolimbic circuit, and especially the prefrontal cortex, in higher-order executive dysfunction (e.g., disadvantageous decision-making such as trading a car for a couple of cocaine hits) in drug addicted individuals. The theoretical model that guides the presented research is called iRISA (Impaired Response Inhibition and Salience Attribution), postulating that abnormalities in the orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, as related to dopaminergic dysfunction, contribute to the core clinical symptoms in drug addiction. Specifically, our multi-modality program of research is guided by the underlying working hypothesis that drug addicted individuals disproportionately attribute reward value to their drug of choice at the expense of other potentially but no-longer-rewarding stimuli, with a concomitant decrease in the ability to inhibit maladaptive drug use. In this talk I will also explore whether treatment (as usual) and 6-month abstinence enhance recovery in these brain-behavior compromises in treatment seeking cocaine addicted individuals. Promising neuroimaging studies, which combine pharmacological (i.e., oral methylphenidate, or RitalinTM) and salient cognitive tasks or functional connectivity during resting-state, will be discussed as examples for using neuroimaging in the empirical guidance for the development of effective neurorehabilitation strategies (including cognitive training) in drug addiction.