Our research focuses on visual information processing and its interaction with other modalities during behavior. We investigate how manifold parameters given in a visual scene are represented in real-time across neuronal populations using wide-field optical imaging with fluorescent voltage indicators. This technique is unique in its capability of capturing electrical activity of millions of neurons at once using light (for a review see "VSDI: a new era in functional imaging of cortical dynamics" and our contribution therein). In combination with optogenetic stimulation (i.e., light stimulation of specific target neurons and neuronal subnetworks) our approach provides access to both theoretical and experimental questions dealing with the highly dynamic activity patterns observed across the brain.
Given the tremendous density of intra-cortical connections neural interactions play a major role in computing behavioral relevant information. We like to identify the streams of bottom-up and top-down information processing leading to plastic cortical changes after learning and its perceptual correlates.
Further we investigate how serotonin influences sensory and motor processing. Along these lines we investigate how spatiotemporal patterns of activity reflect short-term plastic changes and how working memory traces influence expectation and decision processes.
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The goal of MoNN&Di is to create a focused 5 year doctoral training programme that enables scrutiny of how monoaminergic G Protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) modulate neuronal circuits and shape behavioral responses.
JOINT RESEARCH, EU funded Project, ERA-Net Neuron. Our multidisciplinary EU-funded project brings together scientists from different fields and complementary experimental and theoretical know-how. (klick on image for further infos)
We apply voltage-sensitive dye imaging to capture modifications of cortical maps during non-invasive interventions using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The study has practical implications for perceptual learning and rehabilitation in traumatic or neurodegenerative impairment of the brain. Funding: Project A2, DFG - Collaborative Research Center, SFB-874
Sensation and motor action is influenced through emotional factors like motivation, anger, fear, or attention. Using voltage-sensitive dye imaging in combination with optogenetics we study how serotonergic action affects quantities of sensory-motor integration as anticipation, adaptation, and learning. Funding: DFG - German Priority Programme - SPP 1665
Starting in January 2012, the project is funded for five years by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) and the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) with around € 1.55 million. It is financed within the funding program "German-Israeli Project Cooperation" ("Deutsch-Israelische Projektkooperation", DIP) that fosters interdisciplinary cutting-edge research in both countries.
