Department(s): Department of Cognitive Neurobiology (Center for Brain Research)
Position: Research Assistant
Location: Spitalgasse 4
Telephone: 40160-34118
E-Mail:
Research Area:
Behavior, Animal, Neuroanatomy, Neurophysiology
Research Interests:
Pyramidal Cells, Prefrontal Cortex, Memory, Short-Term, Interneurons, Choice Behavior
Grant(s):
Abstract:
The prefrontal cortex plays a major role in several cognitive processes including working memory formation, temporal organization of events and decision making. These operations are supported by GABAergic interneurons which provide the temporal framework for information processing in the cerebral cortex. The firing of parvalbumin-expressing interneurons displayed strong modulation according to the task episode. Interestingly, different parvalbumin-expressing interneurons fired preferentially at different episodes during the task (e.g. stimulus, delay, execution). We hypothesise that distinct types of neuron in the medial prefrontal cortex uniquely contribute to the internal representation and temporal coding during cognitive behaviour.
Techniques:
Electrophysiology (In vivo juxtacellular recording and labelling in anaesthetised and freely-moving rats, tetrode recordings, cell clustering, voltage and current clamp recordings in vitro)
Behavioural Experiments (Rats trained in prefrontal cortex dependent tasks)
Microscopy (Epifluorescence and confocal microscopy, light microscopy, Neurolucida 3D reconstruction of juxtacellularly labelled neurons)
Analysis and statistics (Spike timing and local field potential analysis, univariate and multivariate, circular statistics)
Selected Publications:
