Interneuron Contributions To Attention
The dynamic balance between excitation and inhibition is critical for communication within and between brain regions. Inhibitory neurons help regulate excitatory neuron activity to help fine-tune information representation and decision making, but each cell type does this in different ways. We’re interested in how different neuron subtypes support the delicate push and pull of neural activity in attention and other types of cognition.
Identifying Disease Biomarkers
Virtually every neurodevelopmental, psychiatric, and neurodegenerative disorder presents with attention dysfunction. Using genetic mouse models to explore a range of diseases, we’re looking from synapses to cells to oscillations to better understand how neural activity patterns correlate with attentional state in health and disease.
Linking Cell-Type Activity To Oscillations
EEG recordings offer a non-invasive approach for recording brain activity from mice to humans. Oscillations, or the coordinated activity of large groups of neurons, at specific frequency bands can reflect processing and filtering sensory information. We’re interested in the relationship between these electrical signatures and cell-type specific activity in different attentional states