Abstract
Reliable integration of an ever-changing multitude of sensory inputs from the environment is the basis for learning and memory and shapes behaviour. Our research aims to understand the single cell as well as large population dynamics of sensory input representations in medial geniculate body, the thalamic relay of the auditory pathway, during associative learning and memory formation. I will outline several lines of our recent research using state-of-the-art deep brain imaging techniques in mice indicating that thalamus is a site of plasticity in appetitive and aversive learning on both, the single cell as well as the population coding level. Furthermore, we found that neuromodulation in auditory thalamus is crucial for neuronal coding and learning. Finally, I will present recent data indicating that the axon initial segment is a site of plasticity upon associative learning in neurons of the prefrontal cortex.
Biography
Jan Gründemann's research seeks to understand which neuronal circuits and processing mechanisms in our brain are involved in sensory perception and memory formation using deep brain imaging techniques as well as methods for targeted modulation of neuronal activity. The goal of the research is the future application of the findings in neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases. Jan Gründemann studied human biology at the University of Marburg and subsequently received his PhD from University College London. He is now leading the Neural Circuit Computations group at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and is a professor at the Medical Faculty of the University of Bonn, Germany.