In the article “Prolonged Activity Deprivation Causes Pre- and Postsynaptic Compensatory Plasticity at Neocortical Excitatory Synapses,” by Derek L. Wise, Yasmin Escobedo-Lozoya, Vera Valakh, Emma Y. Gao, Aishwarya Bhonsle, Qian L. Lei, Xinyu Cheng, Samuel B. Greene, Stephen D. Van Hooser, and Sacha B. Nelson, which was …

Lorenz Studer, director at the Center for Stem Cell Biology, discusses using induced pluripotent stem cells to model human diseases and development at the 2013 Neurobiology of Disease workshop at the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting.

The goal of science outreach is increasing public awareness about brain research. All you need to move your love of science out of the lab and into the public sphere is a desire to communicate your science and an outlet for doing so.

Make the most out of your time at Neuroscience 2015 by knowing what to expect and how to prepare. Here’s what former attendees suggest you do.

The aim of the 2013 Neurobiology of Disease workshop at the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting was to help frame important unanswered research questions related to iPSC-based disease modeling, and to stimulate the interest and understanding of investigators new to the field. The Neurobiology of Disease Workshop provides students and early-career scientists with in-depth overviews of diseases of the nervous system.

As the knowledge base in neuroscience continues to expand, educators need timely resources to engage their students.

The formation and precise positioning of axons and dendrites are crucial for the development of neural circuits. Although juxtracrine signaling via cell-cell contact is known to influence these processes, the specific structures and mechanisms regulating neuronal process positioning within the central nervous system (CNS) remain to be fully identified. Our study investigates motoneuron 24 (MN24) in the Drosophila embryonic CNS, which is characterized by a complex yet stereotyped axon projection pattern, known as ‘axonal routing.’ In this motoneuron, the primary dendritic branches project laterally toward the midline, specifically emerging at the sites where axons turn. We observed that Scp2-positive neurons contribute to the lateral fascicle structure in the ventral nerve cord (VNC) near MN24 dendrites. Notably, the knockout of the Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule ( Dscam1 ) results in the loss of dendrites and disruption of proper axonal routing in MN24, while not affecting the formation of the fascic...

The rat dorsomedial (DMS) and dorsolateral striatum (DLS), equivalent to caudate nucleus and putamen in primates, are required for goal-directed and habit behaviour, respectively. However, it is still unclear whether and how this functional dichotomy emerges in the course of learning. In this study we investigated this issue by recording DMS and DLS single neuron activity in rats performing a continuous spatial alternation task, from the acquisition to optimized performance. We first applied a classical analytical approach to identify task-related activity based on the modifications of single neuron firing rate in relation to specific task events or maze trajectories. We then used an innovative approach based on Hawkes process to reconstruct a directed connectivity graph of simultaneously recorded neurons, that was used to decode animal behavior. This approach enabled us to better unravel the role of DMS and DLS neural networks across learning stages. We showed that DMS and DLS display different task-relat...

Animals, humans included, navigate their environments guided by sensory cues, responding adaptively to potential dangers and rewards. Avoidance behaviors serve as adaptive strategies in the face of signaled threats, but the neural mechanisms orchestrating these behaviors remain elusive. Current circuit models of avoidance behaviors indicate that the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in the ventral striatum plays a key role in signaled avoidance behaviors, but the nature of this engagement is unclear. Evolving perspectives propose the NAc as a pivotal hub for action selection, integrating cognitive and affective information to heighten the efficiency of both appetitive and aversive motivated behaviors. To unravel the engagement of the NAc during active and passive avoidance, we used calcium imaging fiber photometry to examine NAc GABAergic neuron activity in freely moving mice performing avoidance behaviors. We then probed the functional significance of NAc neurons using optogenetics, and genetically targeted or elec...

Thomas Utley, a licensing officer in the Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization at Vanderbilt University, describes how he uses skills developed in the research lab in his career.