Event Details:
David Fitzpatrick, PhD
Chief Executive Officer, Research Group Leader, Scientific Director
Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience
Host: Carla Shatz
Abstract
The pioneering work of Hubel and Wiesel defined the fundamental challenge in understanding the functional organization of visual cortex: How do cortical circuits transform the information supplied by thalamus into coherent representations of the visual world? The emergent response properties of cortical circuits, such as selectivity for the orientation of edges or direction of motion have served as focal points for considerable progress in understanding cortical circuit mechanisms. Nevertheless the fine scale functional synaptic architecture of cortical neurons—how functionally defined excitatory and inhibitory inputs are integrated by individual neurons to produce selective responses remains unclear. This presentation will focus on recent studies employing a combination of in vivo imaging and optogenetic stimulation techniques with cellular and synaptic resolution that provide new insights into the role that functional specificity in synaptic connections and fine scale dendritic topology play in shaping the cortical transform.
Curriculum Vitae
Website
Related papers
[1] Benjamin Scholl, Daniel E. Wilson, David Fitzpatrick. Local Order within Global Disorder: Synaptic Architecture of Visual Space. Neuron, Volume 96, Issue 5, P1127-1138.E4, December 6, 2017. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.10.017
[2] Daniel E. Wilson, Benjamin Scholl, David Fitzpatrick. Differential tuning of excitation and inhibition shapes direction selectivity in ferret visual cortex. Naturevolume 560, pages97–101 (2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0354-1