Investigation of cortico-subcortical dynamics in sensorimotor integration (A09)

• Subject Area: Molecular Biology and Physiology of Neurons and Glial Cells
• Term: from 2014 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 122679504

When tactile information reaches the somatosensory cortex, it is not only communicated to other cortical areas, but the cortex also projects back to sub-cortical areas to regulate the information flow, depending on the behavioural context. In this project we investigate the activity in cortical cells that project back to the thalamus, where they can modulate thalamic activity. This feedback modulation is directed at first-order and higher order thalamic nuclei, that work in parallel to process information. Broadly speaking, activity in the corticothalamic cells may serve to strengthen either detection or discriminability. Activity in the corticothalamic cells affect sensory adaptation in both cortex and thalamus, and this is one mechanism by which information processing can be optimised. In this project we use optogenetics to control the activity in different populations of corticothalamic cells, and in combination with in vivo electrophysiology, we use this method to investigate how the thalamo-cortico-cortical circuit is regulated depending on behavioural context.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 874: Integration and Representation of Sensory Processes
• Applicant Institution: Ruhr-Universität Bochum
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Patrik Krieger