2015 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Optogenetic control of visual perception
| Project/Area Number |
26290011
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| Research Institution | Institute of Physical and Chemical Research |
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Principal Investigator |
ベヌッチ アンドレア 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 脳科学総合研究センター, チームリーダー (50722352)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
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| Keywords | mouse / visual cortex / imaging / electrophysiology / behavior / decision making / optogenetics |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In FY2015 the Lab has transitioned from a setting-up phase of Laboratory equipment-lasted about one year (FY2014)-to a science-production regime. In reference to the ‘Future work’ section, as in last fiscal year’s report, the Lab has significantly advanced in all points. Specifically:
Progress on animal behavior: the automated behavioral setup for mouse voluntary head fixation is fully operational, with a high-throughput capacity of 30 mice/day, equivalent to ~10^4 trials/day. Using this setup we have developed a research project on sensory perception and decision-making. We have presented the results of this work in November at the annual Meeting of the American Society for Neuroscience (SfN 2015, Chicago). We are currently finalizing a manuscript to submit for publication.
Progress on Imaging: the setups for in vivo two-photon calcium imaging and widefield imaging are fully operational and currently used in a number of research projects. The most advanced one is focused on simultaneous recordings and perturbations of neuronal activity with single-cell spatial resolution, in-vivo, and in awake animals. We recently submitted as an abstract to the upcoming annual Meeting of the American Society for Neuroscience (SfN 2016, San Diego).
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The progress has been very smooth and according to the planned timeline.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
Animal behavior: complete the 2nd generation of behavioral setups involving hardware modifications to increase the setup capacity. This will allow us to test even more behavioral strategies and to train mice in increasingly complex behavioral tasks.
Imaging and electrophysiology: complete the testing phase on in-vivo fluorescent Calcium imaging of neural responses. The goal is to record the activity from large populations of cortical networks in animals trained in complex behavioral tasks (via two-photon microscopy and a widefield macroscope). Finally, we will finish testing four triple-transgenic lines (Madisen,…, Benucci, et al., Neuron 2015) and a newly received double-transgenic line. Regarding the electrophysiology setup, we plan to optimize it for optogenetics validations (see below).
Optogenetics: we will finish testing a number of viral vectors for activity-dependent expression of optogenetic constructs. The selected vector will be used to selectively target populations of neurons that are critically involved in the cognitive tasks on which animals have been trained trained. The goal is to reveal the fundamental neural principles underlying such cognitive abilities. Equipment-wise, we will add a digital-micromirror-display (DMD) system to the macroscope setup. The DMD will allow us to produce patterned optogenetic stimulation across several cortical areas. To our knowledge, this powerful setup would be the first of its kind.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Motivations for fewer travel expenditures.The recent assimilation of new Lab members has required a slight reduction in the amount of traveling of the Principal Investigator. This small change in strategy has been necessary to facilitate the smooth progression of the research work.
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| Expenditure Plan for Carryover Budget |
Behavioral setup: the optimization of the mouse behavioral setups is progressing smoothly, and we are now planning to increase its efficiency with a few further modifications.
Physiology: we are planning several experiments using transgenic animals, viral constructs and optogenetic approaches. Besides the costs for such methodologies, we will incur in significant costs for the integration of hardware for optogenetic stimulation with the imaging setup. Finally, I am planning to present preliminary results (now in preparation for publication) at domestic and international meetings, and I am strongly supporting my staff to attend meetings, courses, and workshops as well.
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Research Products
(2 results)
