High-resolution dissection of neural circuits for memory, space and time

• Date and time: November 30, 2017 from 11:00am-12:00 pm
• Location: Kelly Hall, Room 310
  
• Speaker:  Daniel English, Ph.D.
  Postdoctoral Fellow
  New York University
  Neuroscience Institute

Hippocampal circuits are essential to episodicmemory, and generate internal representations of the external world independent of direct sensory inputs. These representations include those of location in space (‘place cells’) and time (‘time cells’). My research is focused on understanding the physiology of hippocampal circuits at the level of synaptic interactions between ensembles of identified neurons. Working in vivo, in awake-behaving rodents, I develop and utilize electrophysiological and optogenetic methods to actively monitor and manipulate neural activity to probe physiological function. My talk will primarily focus on two projects, including both neuroscientific findings and the technical developments which made them possible: (1) understanding the generation and organization of sharp-wave ripple oscillations (neural population events critical for memory consolidation) at the level of single neuron membrane potential dynamics; and (2) elucidating the organization and activity dynamics of microcircuits composed of excitatory (pyramidal cell) and inhibitory (interneuron) neurons, with an emphasis on functions related to cell assemblies.

Contact Anne Wailes for more information: awailes@vt.edu