 | General PhilosophyI'm working to develop systems for two-way communication with brain networks at the population or many-cell level. My interest is understanding the brain as an organizational memory and perception system. I'm curious how brain tissue can inherently sift and weave structure from applied information, and in particular how endogenous, biophysical properties of excitatory and inhibitory neurons seem to enable the discernment, capture, and retrieval of patterns across multiple synaptic inputs. To me this is the essence of memory architecture and a natural level at which to approach network organizing principles. |
|
 | High-Resolution ImagingIt is becoming increasingly clear that the perturbation and measurement of neuronal circuits will eventually be augmented or even replaced by optical methods. I am working to create new platforms for computer-controlled, fast-timescale imaging, in order to 1) direct laser lines for targeted spatial excitation, and 2) enable rapid sampling from computer-defined regions of interest in order to measure distributed functional dynamics. |
|
 | Biophysical AnalysisTo isolate the loci of synaptic change, and relate them to molecular mechanisms, I spent my Ph.D. learning as much as possible about the biophysical analysis of single synapses, and computational modeling of synaptic and cell-wide changes. We attempt incremental experiments that identify phenomena and reduce them to their biophysical components. For example, a recent paper explored a scaling phenomenon by achieving transmission across pairs of neurons, isolating that transmission to single vesicle release, and then measuring the attenuation of the single vesicle response by the graded application of antagonists. |
|
 | Novel Tools for In Vitro PhysiologyWe also built a 'spatiotemporal stimulator' - a computer-controlled system of many electrodes that is capable of stimulating multiple sites of cortical tissue (acute slice or dissociated cultures) in fine patterns, while intracellularly recording changes in synaptic activity in single neurons. The goal is to now use it to ask, 'Are neurons sensitive to specific patterns of stimulation? Is their plasticity tuned to specific patterns of stimulation? What are those patterns and what do they mean?' |
|
 | Facilitating Circuit Manipulation with Biomaterial DevicesIn vitro systems can also be controlled physically in dramatic ways to open up interesting measurements, or to directly modulate network architecture and connectivity. Some of my work has dealt with generating and testing biomaterial devices that facilitate such perturbations and measurements. For example, a flexible and bio-degradable electrode array was engineered to enable chronic implantation. Similarly, a micropatterning technique was developed to define with high resolution the layout and connectivity of brain circuits on a computer-designed chip. Being able to build custom micro-environments and micro-interfaces will allow us to take full advantage of the experimental flexibility that in vitro systems promise. |
|
 | Custom Electronics and Software SystemsFinally, no matter what we are using to stimulate and record brain tissue, modern neuroscience will require advanced computer systems and corresponding electrical hardware to drive our experimental tools. If the tools are as cutting edge as we hope, then the ability to instantiate custom systems for their control will be an advantage. The final piece that I have strived to achieve is therefore how to leverage an interest in computer science and electrical engineering to repurpose EECS methods common among professionals in other fields to the study of biological network activity. |
|
| |
