ELSC Seminar Series

Our lab studies brain-wide dynamics underlying cognition. We train mice on many different behavioral tasks, each focusing on a different cognitive function such as sensory integration, perception, working memory, perception social interactions and more. As mice perform each task, we use brain-wide imaging techniques to record neuronal population activity from as many brain areas as possible. Two mesoscale techniques used in the lab are wide-field imaging of the whole dorsal cortex and multi-fiber photometry to record from dozens of cortical and subcortical areas also during freely moving behavior. I will show unpublished results from mice trained on different cognitive tasks and highlight critical areas involved in each cognitive function with emphasis on individual mouse variability. I will further show preliminary results from social and freely moving behaviors and highlight the potential of these experiments in studying autism and other neurological diseases. Our long-term goal is to obtain a brain-wide cognitive map that will aid in understanding cognition as a whole in both the healthy and the disordered brain.