Columbia University in the City of New York

Mar 3, 20204:00 pm
Seminar

How Do Prefrontal Gamma Oscillations Contribute to Flexible Behavior?

Featuring Vikaas Sohal, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco

March 3rd, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm at the Neurological Institute of New York (1st floor)

This seminar will be held in the Neurological Institute of New York's Auditorium (1st floor). Columbia University's Intercampus Shuttle Service is the best way to travel between campuses.

Reappraising the behavioral significance of external cues is essential for many aspects of cognition. Here, I will describe published and unpublished studies using electrophysiology, optogenetics and voltage imaging to show that synchronized gamma-frequency (~40 Hz) activity, generated by parvalbumin interneurons, is critical for this process of behavioral reappraisal. These studies address a major controversy about whether synchronized patterns of neural activity, e.g., gamma oscillations, contribute to brain function in important ways or are simply epiphenomena. Deficits in parvalbumin interneurons, gamma rhythms, and behavioral reappraisal are all prominent features of schizophrenia. Thus, I will also describe how restoring parvalbumin interneuron-generated gamma rhythms may treat cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia.

Those who wish to meet the speaker during their visit should contact Alex Dranovsky. For general inquiries please contact [email protected].

The Columbia Neuroscience Seminar series is a collaborative effort of Columbia's Zuckerman Institute, the Department of Neuroscience, the Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior and the Columbia Translational Neuroscience Initiative, and with support from the Kavli Institute for Brain Science.

Venue: the Neurological Institute of New York (1st floor)
710 W 168th St, New York, NY 10032

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