We are delighted to announce that Professor Linda Wilbrecht has joined SWC as a Resident Scholar from January 2024 to June 2024.  

“We are so happy to have Linda Wilbrecht visit us and share her expertise in learning and developmental plasticity particularly during the key life stage of adolescence. 

Linda's mechanistic work on basal ganglia function and how scarcity and uncertainty impact learning and decision making on a range of timescales nicely complement ongoing work at the SWC. We are looking forward to stimulating discussion and exploring collaborative opportunities in this important area of systems neuroscience,” said Professor Tom Otis, Chief Scientific Officer at SWC.

Professor Wilbrecht will collaborate with SWC based and affiliated labs to further explore the neural basis of learning and decision making. Throughout her visit she will discuss, develop and test models of circuit function using new insights about cell types, new tasks to elicit natural behaviour, and new methods to measure and manipulate circuit function in behaving animals. 

"You have built a rich community for neuroscience here at SWC and UCL. I am thrilled to be here and am eager to learn from your community and the exciting work you have in progress," commented Professor Wilbrecht.

The Wilbrecht research group studies the basal ganglia, learning, decision making, and adolescent brain development. During her visit to SWC, Professor Wilbrecht plans to discuss:

• How the basal ganglia subregions may separately assess and integrate negative versus positive outcomes and/or costs versus benefits to inform upcoming choice. Reactions to negative outcomes and costs are of particular interest to addiction medicine and psychiatry.
• How the basal ganglia develops and functions differently under conditions of volatility and uncertainty.
• How cell/circuit properties found in adolescent development and in mice with autism risk genes may underlie behavioural differences in learning and decision making.

Professor Wilbrecht will deliver a SWC Seminar on Thursday 18 January at 12pm:

"Can we uncover convergent environment x context or gene x context interactions to aid real world learning?”

For more information and to register, please visit our events page.

About Professor Linda Wilbrecht

Linda Wilbrecht is Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley and a member of the US National Scientific Council on Adolescence and the Brain Initiative U19 Team DOPE. The Wilbrecht Lab studies the basal ganglia, learning, decision making, and adolescent brain development. Current lab projects are funded by NINDS, NIMH, NIDA and Simons SFARI foundation. 

Find out more about the Wilbrecht Lab

About the SWC Resident Scholar Programme

The SWC Resident Scholar Programme was launched in 2018 with the aim of bringing together world-class neuroscientists to exchange, discuss and challenge new ideas in systems neuroscience. Visiting scholars participate fully in life at SWC including interacting with researchers at all levels at the numerous ongoing events including seminars, data clubs and tea hours. 

Visiting scholars also have access to cutting-edge core facilities and platforms including advanced microscopy and imaging; a virology vector core; advanced manufacturing and innovation and research fabrication laboratories; high performance computing platforms and neurobiological research facilities.

Previous visiting scholars include Professor Viviana Gradinaru (Caltech), Professor Bence Olveczky (Harvard), Professor Rava da Silveira (Ecole Normale Supérieure), Professor Larry Swanson (USC), Professor Loren Frank (UCSF), Professor Larry Zipursky (UCLA), & Professor Alison Barth (Carnegie Mellon). 

Contact:
April Cashin-Garbutt
Head of Research Communications and Engagement
a.cashin-garbutt@ucl.ac.uk
+44 (0) 20 3108 8028