Event Details:
School of Engineering and Stanford Neurosciences Institute Faculty Candidate
Abstract: How do networks of neurons extract relevant information from sensory stimuli to make decisions and produce movements? My research uses electrophysiology, calcium imaging, and dynamical systems analyses to understand how neural populations drive these complex aspects of behavior. I will present evidence from reaching monkeys showing that a population-level mechanism is central in allowing the circuit to prepare movements while the animal remains still, and in controlling communication between cortical areas. Next, I will present data from rodents in a multisensory decision-making task showing that structuring of information at the population level – but not at the individual neuron level – permits easy decoding and provides a flexible link from decision to action. Finally, I will present ongoing work using two-photon calcium imaging in the mouse to reveal spatially organized subnetworks of neurons in these areas. To conclude, I will discuss how rodent behavior, optical imaging, genetic tools, and pharmacology can be combined with cutting edge population analyses to provide a new window into how circuits implement the computations that enable action.
Bio: Dr. Kaufman received a bachelor’s degree in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University, then returned to Stanford for a PhD in Neuroscience. There he worked in the laboratory of Krishna Shenoy, where he studied motor control in the monkey using electrophysiology, optogenetics and dynamical systems analysis. He then moved to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York to conduct postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Anne Churchland. There he has studied decision making and cortical dynamics in rodents, first with electrophysiology in the rat and more recently with two-photon calcium imaging in the mouse. He has received a number of awards, including an NSF graduate research fellowship, a Swartz Foundation postdoctoral fellowship, the McKnight Foundation Allison Doupe fellowship, and a postdoctoral fellowship from the Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain.