Event Details:
Cortical circuits for spatial navigation
Abstract
My lab seeks to understand how the mammalian brain performs the computations that underlie cognitive functions, with a focus on spatial navigation, decision-making, and short-term memory. We aim to reveal mechanisms at the level of the building blocks of the nervous system – cell types and neural populations organized into circuits. We have developed and combine a variety of approaches to measure, manipulate, and analyze neural circuits across diverse spatial and temporal scales, including technology for virtual reality, optical imaging, optogenetics, and computational modeling. In recent work, we have developed approaches to label and manipulate molecularly and functionally defined cell types in the mouse cortex. I will present recent results that reveal that a subtype of inhibitory interneurons in the posterior parietal cortex has a specialized function in error corrections during spatial navigation. I will also discuss ongoing work using influence mapping with cellular-resolution optogenetics to investigate the functional microcircuit organization in posterior parietal cortex during spatial navigation.
Christopher Harvey
Harvard Medical School
Christopher Harvey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. He did his graduate work at Cold Spring Harbor Lab and the Janelia Research Campus of HHMI with Karel Svoboda. He then did his postdoctoral research at Princeton University with David Tank. His research focuses on identifying principles for the function and organization of neural circuits in the mammalian cortex, with a main goal of understanding cellular, circuit, and systems-level mechanisms for spatial navigation and decision-making. He has developed methods to measure, manipulate, and analyze neural circuits across spatial and temporal scales, including technology for virtual reality, optical imaging, optogenetics, intracellular electrophysiology, molecular sensors, and computational modeling. His research has been recognized by various awards, recently including the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award and the Society for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award. He also recently received the Harold Amos Faculty Diversity Award at Harvard Medical School.
About the Wu Tsai Neuro MBCT Seminar Series The Stanford Center for Mind, Brain, Computation and Technology Seminars (MBCT) explores ways in which computational and technical approaches are being used to advance the frontiers of neuroscience. It features speakers from other institutions, Stanford faculty and senior training program trainees.