Local and long-range tactile signal integration in defined cell types of primary somatosensory (barrel) cortex (C07)

• Subject Area: Molecular Biology and Physiology of Neurons and Glial Cells ; Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology
• Term: from 2015 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 154113120

C07 will study the interaction of local (within the barrel cortex) and long-range (subcortical or from other cortical areas) circuits in tactile signal integration in the barrel cortex. We will construct a brain-wide atlas of local and long-range inputs to basket, Martinotti, and putative interneuron-specific bipolar cells using monosynaptic retrograde rabies tracing, use optogenetics to examine how Martinotti and bipolar cells integrate local with long-range inputs, and perform in vivo recordings to characterize signal integration of single principal and adjacent whisker as well as multiwhisker stimuli. With this multi-level approach we will clarify the anatomical and functional connectome of defined types of GABAergic neurons.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 889: Cellular Mechanisms of Sensory Processing
• Applicant Institution: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Jochen Ferdinand Staiger