The brain is made of neurons, and neurons convert synaptic inputs to spiking outputs. How does a neuron decide when to spike?
Brain circuit wiring is adjusted during adolescence to generate fully functional circuits, and this process depends on an interaction between genetics and experience. During this period of experience-dependent development, excitatory and inhibitory synapses must be carefully balanced so that circ...
Pain is normally a sensation that we experience when our body is exposed to damaging stimuli, such as the noxious heat of an open flame. However, when chronic, pain becomes a debilitating disease. Injury or disease can change how pain neural circuits function: pain can then be perceived spontaneo...
Waste management and sustainability are major challenges humans face in the 21st-century. As you concentrate and think about these issues, nerve cells in your brain must deal with the exact same problem—how do they manage their trash? Unlike other cells in our body, most nurse cells must la...
One of the most fundamental functions of the nervous system is to form memories of salient experiences. What neural mechanisms enables some experience to turn into permanent memories, while the vast majority are forgotten? There is increased appreciation that offline replay of neural activity aft...
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are characterized by repetitive behaviors and deficits in the core domains of language development and social interactions. While many ASD patients exhibit deficits in sensory processing, the neural basis for these deficits are incompletely understood. Here, Dr. D...
The global incidence of schizophrenia is 1 percent and of psychotic syndromes 3.4 percent. The U.S. economic burden of schizophrenia is projected as $16 trillion for 2010-30 including the cost attributable to unemployment. Despite this, over the past three decades the FDA has only approved a sing...
Among the most intriguing discoveries to emerge from technological advances in recent years are the insights into how the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the genome influences many aspects of local and long-range gene regulation and function. These data suggest that identifying the specific c...
Problems with cognition are the major cause of disability in schizophrenia. One idea is that these result from having too little dopamine in a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex. Another idea is that abnormalities in a particular class of neurons called parvalbumin interneurons, and t...
Understanding the complex relationships between gene expression, neuronal plasticity, and behavior is a fundamental goal of neuroscience. However the brain contains many types of neurons. Therefore, a systematic understanding of brain function must include an effective strategy for targeting spec...
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