Columbia University in the City of New York

Oct 2, 20184:00 pm
Seminar

State-dependent Cortical Circuits

Featuring Jessica A. Cardin, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Yale University

October 2nd, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm at the Jerome L. Greene Science Center (9th floor lecture hall)

This seminar will be held in the Jerome L. Greene Science Center on Columbia's Manhattanville campus (9th floor lecture hall). Columbia University's Intercampus Shuttle Service is the best way to travel between campuses.

Cortical circuit function is highly flexible, adapting rapidly to changes in environmental context and behavioral demand. Indeed, although the physical components of local circuits remain relatively constant, the precise population of neurons participating in ongoing patterns of activity can vary tremendously from moment to moment. GABAergic interneurons are key mediators of this flexible cortical circuit function. Dr. Cardin and her team find that different populations of interneurons are differentially regulated by behavioral states such as arousal and quiescence, contributing to state-dependent changes in visual processing and perceptual performance. They finds that inhibitory regulation of GABAergic populations is a critical element of circuit function. In turn, loss or dysregulation of key inhibitory interneurons disrupts the flexible function of cortical circuits and impairs both cortical development and sensory processing in the mature brain. Their recent findings highlight unanticipated roles for sparse but powerful inhibitory populations, such as the VIP cells, and uncover the impact of inhibitory-to-inhibitory interactions in the cortex.

Dr. Cardin attended Cornell University, graduating cum laude in 1997. She went on to work in the lab of Dr. Marc Schmidt at the University of Pennsylvania for her graduate degree, obtaining a PhD in Neuroscience in 2004. She did her initial postdoctoral work in the lab of Dr. Diego Contreras at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by postdoctoral work at MIT in the lab of Dr. Christopher Moore. Dr. Cardin started her lab at Yale in 2010, and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience.

The Cardin lab is interested in the functional flexibility of cortical circuits. In particular, the lab has focused on the roles of diverse inhibitory interneurons in regulating the development and mature function of cortical networks. We use a combination of electrophysiology, imaging, and behavioral approaches to examine the recruitment of distinct neural populations into active circuits under conditions of varying behavioral state or cognitive demand. In addition, we use genetic models of neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and schizophrenia to examine the developmental and mature roles of inhibitory interneurons in the cortex.

Those who wish to meet the speaker during their visit should contact Rozanna Yakub. 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 Jerome L. Greene Science Center (9th floor lecture hall)
3227 Broadway, New York, NY 10027

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