H2020Индивидуална стипендия2021–2024

EnlightenedLoom · Multimodal optical interrogation of neural activity and neuromodulation during sequence processing

„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2021-10-16 → 2024-03-17
Финансиране от ЕС: 183 473 €
Участници: 1
Схема: MSCA-IF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Невронните модели в мозъка определят как възприемаме последователности от звуци и допир. Разбирането на тези процеси помага при изследването на състояния като шизофрения и депресия, при които възприемането на света често е нарушено.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

Multimodal optical interrogation of neural activity and neuromodulation during sequence processing

EnlightedLoom tackles a long standing question in Neuroscience: what are the neural basis of perception? This question has been researched from several perspectives in the past few decades. Cognitive studies described the strategies used by mammals to recognize a wide range of sensory stimuli. Neurophysiology techniques have revealed the involvement of large brain regions in perceiving specific sensory objects, and mechanistic work has investigated the functional features of single brain cells responding to inputs coming from the external world. However, to date, it remains unclear how multiple brain cells come together to define spatial and temporal patterns of activity when a subject is perceiving an object, and which ones of these patterns are sufficient for perception. The project aims to access such deep level of investigation by combining the most advanced experimental and theoretical tools currently available. Specifically, EnlightedLoom has 2 overall objectives. First, to work out which cortical neurons, and which activity patterns defined by these neurons, are ultimately responsible for the perception of multisensory audio-tactile sequences. Second, to reveal how neuromodulatory signaling correlates with changes in the neural representation of familiar and novel sensory objects. In the project, neural activity and neuromodulation are studied simultaneously, and at an unprecedented level of spatial detail. Overall, EnlightenedLoom aims to offer key instruments to bring neuroscience research to a long sought level of understanding. The object of the research, namely the perception of sensory patterns and regularities, defines how we normally interact with the world, and it is often impaired in conditions such as schizophrenia and depression. Therefore, this research is instrumental for future investigations aimed at unraveling the altered neural mechanisms underlying neurological pathologies. Over the period of its duration, EnlightedLoom has obtained new results about the processing of tactile objects in the cerebral cortex, and it has paved the way for new experiments where the contribution of neuronal firing and neuromodulation are studied together.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

The world often presents us with sequences of multisensory stimuli unfolding over time, like a car appearing after we hear it approaching. In the cerebral cortex, individual neurons integrate information across senses and time in order to identify these objects. Meanwhile, neuromodulatory molecules shape neural computations, adapting them to context and experience. It is from this interplay that the spatio-temporal patterns of neural activity containing the code for how we perceive the world originate. However, these activity patterns have long been experimentally inaccessible, and they have never been investigated concurrently to neuromodulation. With this project, I will reveal the causal role of functionally-identified ensembles of neurons in the perception and learning of audio-tactile sequences. I will combine, for the first time, two-photon (2p) imaging and holographic-optogenetics with fluorescent neuromodulation sensors. My experiments will be performed in the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) of the mouse, a multimodal area acting as sensory history buffer. I will focus on noradrenaline (NA), a modulator so far involved in sharpening processing of weak unisensory features. I will 1) test which PPC neurons are sufficient, when activated, to bias perception of multisensory sequences during a behavioural task; 2) simultaneously, I will test whether and how PPC levels of NA change when altering sequence discriminability. My experiments will be supported by a solid theoretical framework based on Information Theory. In conclusion, I will use a unique combination of advanced molecular, optical, and computational tools to pursue a novel, causal and integrative approach to cortical function: one where functional neuronal subgroups and neuromodulation are investigated together, at high-resolution, to explain the multi-layered biological basis of the fascinating interaction between our brains and the world.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

FONDAZIONE ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA · GenovaКоординаторИталия