Understanding the molecular logic of neuronal plasticity
photo credit: David Brann
Molecular basis of experience-dependent plasticity
Cells, a fundamental unit of all life forms, do not perform their functions statically. Rather, they have the remarkable ability to modulate their functions based on experience. For example, when presented with repeated stimuli, neurons that have been highly active attenuate their responses, whereas responses of recently inactive neurons are boosted. Cells lose such flexibility during aging and often in pathological states. Our lab seeks the logic that cells use to convert their experience, combination of signals from the inside and outside of the body, into dynamic functional changes written in the molecular language in forms of gene and protein expression.
Impacts of peripheral changes on the brain and behavior
Our recent work has revealed that even the primary sensory neurons in the olfactory system can flexible modulate their sensory responses over hours to days by dynamically reconfiguring their transcriptomes based on activity history. This means that the patterns of neural activity evoked by an odor in the nose can be changed across environments, which raises an important question about how the brain deals with such unexpected flexibility in peripheral sensory codes. By using the mouse olfactory system as a model, our lab will address the impacts of peripheral plasticity on the brain circuits and behavior in both healthy and disease conditions. We are particularly interested in how the main and accessory olfactory systems allow animals to perform appropriate social behavior across all of life’s diverse contexts.