Research Description
The evolution of neural firing over the lifetime of memory
Our laboratory is interested in the neural underpinnings of memory. While neuroscientists broadly agree that changes at synapses are responsible for the acquisition of memory, we are just starting to understand what governs these changes and how they lead to changes in neural firing patterns. In particular, little is known about the neurobiological events that underlie forgetting, a complex process whose normal operation is critical for daily function. I believe there is a critical relationship between forgetting and continual learning, and that we can observe signatures of this using novel behavioral tasks and by recording neurons as memories develop and are forgotten.
We investigate how neurons fire as animals learn and how this activity evolves over the lifetime of spatial memories stored in the hippocampus. We use calcium and neurotransmitter imaging to examine neural activity and use computational approaches to understand the content of the messages being received and sent by neurons. These techniques let us understand memory at multiple scales: from populations and networks of neurons down to the input-output function of individual neurons. By combining these approaches with virtual reality tasks, we will better understand the neurobiological events that underlie memories and, ultimately, how memories are forgotten.
Openings
Join the Climer Lab
Seeking inquisitive graduate students and postdocs
I am seeking growing scientists looking to use diverse methods to understand the brain at the subcellular, cellular, and population levels using virtual reality, two-photon imaging and computational approaches.
Candidates should be curious, ready for interdisciplinary study, and excited to learn more about the brain.
Sound like you?
Title
Cutting-Edge Techniques in the Climer Lab
Two-Photon Imaging
By combining calcium imaging with glutamate imaging, we explore the input-output functions of hippocampal neurons over the lifetime of memory.
Virtual Reality
Using virtual reality we create environments impossible in the real world and challenge animals’ memory capabilities to learn more about how memory functions.
Computational Neuroscience
We use computational approaches to examine the contents of the messages being sent and received by these neurons to better understand the information processing going on in the spatial memory centers of the brain.