Attila Losonczy, MD, PhD, a principal investigator at Columbia's Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, is now studying how the brain is able to learn and store information. "It seems that for the hippocampus,” he says, “the time is right for such a targeted investigation." His labortory pinpointed the cells that prevent the formation of fearful memories - offering new hope for the treatment of psychiatric disorders that cause debilitating fear and anxiety.

Title: Single-cell memory operations in the hippocampus

Abstract:

Individual neurons are elementary building blocks of neural circuits. Single neurons process and store information through synaptic integration and plasticity that primarily take place in their complex dendritic arbor.  However, canonical single-cell computations have rarely been investigated in vivo, as it has been notoriously difficult to isolate and functionally interrogate single neurons in behaving animals. In my talk, I will introduce experimental approaches and investigations into synaptic input integration and plasticity that take place in the dendrites of pyramidal neurons of the mouse hippocampus during spatial exploration and learning. We deploy a combination of ultrafast, three-dimensional two-photon voltage, calcium, and glutamate sensor imaging in combination with single-cell optogenetic induction of spatial feature selectivity. I will demonstrate how optogenetic stimulation and plasticity induction with single-cell-precision influence circuit dynamics, functional network connectivity, and behavior. Our results provide a deeper understanding of how single-cell computations support adaptive behaviors. in memory circuits.