Chairs: Tobias Moser and Thomas Mager

Professor Adam E. Cohen from the Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, and Physics, Harvard University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Cambridge will talk about “All-optical electrophysiology for probing neural circuit dynamics”. 

Abstract

Combined optogenetic perturbation and voltage imaging enables high-resolution mapping of bioelectrical dynamics in intact tissues. I will describe application of these tools to Layer 1 of the mouse barrel cortex. We developed techniques to distinguish the separate contributions of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs to membrane potential. By combining patterned optogenetic stimulation, voltage imaging, and numerical simulations of neural dynamics we discovered surprising phase transitions in the dynamics of L1 interneurons which may affect how the brain regulates attention.