Mapping dEndritic inforMation prOcessing in behaving mice using simultaneous spatio-tempoRal voltage and calcium Imaging and wholE-cell electrophySiology

Descripción del proyecto

Información de la formación de la memoria con una imagenología sin precedentes en ratones activos

A diferencia de la mayoría de las otras células del cuerpo, las neuronas tienen una morfología muy especial que es fundamental para el procesamiento de señales. Un «árbol de dendritas» altamente conectado que cambia de forma dinámica recibe mucha información de otras células, abriendo canales iónicos y creando cambios rápidos de voltaje para que se produzcan modificaciones a largo plazo en la estructura y las funciones relacionadas con el aprendizaje y la memoria. Otros cambios de voltaje en las neuronas pueden también modular señales, pero, hasta hace poco, no ha sido posible observar esta dinámica intracelular en animales despiertos y activos. MEMORIES ha desarrollado una técnica pionera y prevé aplicarla por primera vez en ratones activos. Los experimentos prometen reunir una información sin precedentes sobre los sustratos neurobiológicos del aprendizaje y la memoria.

Objetivo

Dendritic information processing is fundamental to how we perceive and interact with the world around us. Spatio-temporal maps of dendritic voltage reveal how information is processed in the brain, but remain unexplored in awake animals, since no recording technique was previously available to study them.
I recently developed a novel technique for spatio-temporal mapping of dendritic processing in unparalleled detail (Roome and Kuhn, 2018). My pioneering experiments provided the first observation of spatio-temporal dendritic voltage signalling in vivo. For the first time, I combined simultaneous dendritic voltage and calcium imaging with somatic recording in cerebellar Purkinje neurons of awake mice to reveal complex dendritic processes, including discrete dendritic spikelets, back-propagating action potentials and localized subthreshold signalling.
Using my novel technique to record from neocortical Pyramidal neurons, I will now investigate dendritic processing in behaving mice, to explore how memories are formed during learning. I will focus on how back-propagating action potentials contribute to dendritic processing, through modulation of synaptic plasticity. The Laboratory of Sensory Processing (Prof. Carl Petersen) at EPFL, Switzerland, is specialized for investigating synaptic mechanisms of sensory processing and highly experienced in whole-cell recording and optical imaging during animal behaviour and training; all of which are critical for the success of this project.
This fellowship will be instrumental in propelling a technique, that I have been committed to developing, towards state-of-the-art research in neuroscience. It will provide an ideal avenue for introducing a new technique to Europe, through a world leading laboratory, and prove invaluable for sharing skills I acquired abroad, while establishing networks and collaborations as I re-integrate into the European neuroscience community, in pursuit of a professional research carrier based in Europe.