“Circuits and cellular mechanisms for the generation and control of breathing”
Monday, Feb 5, 2024, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.; UW, HSB Room T-639
Nathan Baertsch will present “Circuits and cellular mechanisms for the generation and control of breathing.” The Baertsch Lab investigates how breathing is generated and regulated by the brain. By uncovering fundamental cellular and network mechanisms of respiratory control, we hope to inspire new therapeutic interventions to treat breathing disorders associated with neurological pathology, prematurity, and opioid use.
“Investigating brainwide anesthesia-activated ensembles in mice”
Monday, Feb 12, 2024, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.; UW, HSB Room T-639
Dr. Mitra Heshmati will present “Investigating brainwide anesthesia-activated ensembles in mice.” Our goal is to develop a comprehensive cell-type and circuit-specific understanding of anesthesia-induced brain plasticity to better inform translational approaches to expediting emergence from general anesthesia and mitigating postanesthetic agitation and delirium. We currently investigate the effects of general anesthesia on brain circuitry during anesthesia state transitions using brain clearing and whole brain imaging with light sheet microscopy, an approach that enables a single cell resolution snapshot of activity in circuits across the whole rodent brain. We then take advantage of genetically targeted biosensor imaging to interrogate the population activity of neurons within identified anesthesia-activated circuits during emergence. Using knockdown and overexpression of specific genes of interest within specified neural circuits, we examine the effects of targeted genetic manipulations on population activity and whole brain network connectivity under anesthesia and during emergence. We also use established preclinical models of social behavior and stress to investigate postanesthetic agitation and delirium across the lifespan. We plan to initiate parallel translational investigations in humans as our studies move toward identifying putative mechanistic targets to improve the experience of general anesthesia for patients.
“Differential encoding of mammalian proprioception by voltage-gated sodium channels”
Thursday, Feb 29, 2024, 9:30 – 10:30 a.m.; UW, HSB Room G-328
Presenter: Dr. Theanna Griffith, Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology, UC Davis