Brain

Garret Anderson, PhD
2024-02-15 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Plumwood House, 1003 Health Sciences Rd, Irvine, CA 92617, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
The department of Anatomy & Neurobiology will host guest speaker Garret Anderson from UC Riverside, who will give a talk on ““Latrophilin cell-type specific expression and implications for neural circuit development”

Michelle Jones-London, PhD
2024-02-20 10:00 - 11:00 | Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) and Virtually Via Zoom, 419 Physical Sciences Quad, Irvine, 92697, United States
Chief of Office of Programs to Enhance Neuroscience Workforce Diversity Michelle Jones-London, PhD from NIH/NINDS presents:
“An OPEN Conversation: NINDS Strategies for Enhancing the Diversity of Neuroscience Researchers”
Hybrid: ISEB 1200 & Zoom

Frances Wiseman, PhD
2024-02-23 11:00 - 12:00 | Zoom, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
The CFAR-DS Research Seminar Series hosts scientists from UC Irvine and beyond who conduct research focused on Down syndrome, including research ranging from human participants to animal models. This seminar series is intended for scientists, although all are welcome to attend.
On Friday, February 23, 2024 at 11:00 am Pacific Time please join us via Zoom for a presentation by Frances Wiseman, PhD titled “Understanding differences in Down syndrome – Alzheimer’s disease: a focus on amyloid-β formation and response.”
Frances Wiseman, PhD is Programme Leader for Animal Models at the UK Dementia Research Institute. Dr Wiseman will discuss her group’s recent research using combinations of Down syndrome and amyloid-β accumulation mouse models; to understand how additional copies of chromosome 21 genes other than APP may modulate Alzheimer’s disease development in people who have Down syndrome. This will include a discussion of Mumford et al 2022, PMID: 35835549 and recent follow-up unpublished data examining the interferon amyloid-β response in a new mouse model of Down syndrome-Alzheimer’s disease.

Yimin Zou, PhD
2024-02-27 10:00 - 11:00 | Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) and Virtually Via Zoom, 419 Physical Sciences Quad, Irvine, 92697, United States
Professor in the Department of Neurobiology of UCSD Yimin Zou, PhD presents:
“Planar cell polarity proteins in glutamatergic synapse formation and maintenance”
Hybrid: ISEB 1200 & Zoom

Seth Pollak, PhD
2024-02-27 16:00 - 17:00 | Plumwood/Showa Denko Lecture Hall
Join Seth Pollak, PhD for his talk at the UCI Conte Center Seminar Series
“Re-thinking Adversity: Early Life Stress from the Child’s Perspective” by Seth Pollak, PhD, Vaughan-Bascom Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychology, Pediatrics, Anthropology; LaFollette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin – Madison

J. David Jentsch, Ph.D.
2024-03-05 11:00 - 12:00 | CNLM Herklotz Conference Center and Virtually via Zoom
CNLM Colloquium Series
Join the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (CNLM) for a hybrid event featuring Dr. J. David Jentsch, Distinguished Professor and Chair of psychology at Binghamton University. This event will be held in-person in the Herklotz Conference Center and virtually via Zoom.
Diversity to the rescue: Identifying novel molecular regulators of addiction liability

Keri Martinowich, PhD
2024-03-12 10:00 - 11:00 | Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) and Virtually Via Zoom, 419 Physical Sciences Quad, Irvine, 92697, United States
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Keri Martinowich, PhD from Johns Hopkins University Presents:
“Cell type and spatially-resolved multiomic approaches for understanding human brain disorders”
Hybrid: ISEB 1200 & Zoom

Christian Bravo Rivera, Ph.D.
2024-03-12 11:00 - 12:00 | CNLM Herklotz Conference Center and Virtually via Zoom
CNLM Colloquium Series
Join the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (CNLM) for a hybrid event featuring Dr. Christian Bravo Rivera, assistant professor of psychiatry, anatomy, and neurobiology. This event will be held in-person in the Herklotz Conference Center and virtually via Zoom.
Neural circuits mediating reward approach and punishment avoidance conflict
Reward is often present in risky environments, requiring individuals to weigh the benefits of rewards against the associated risks. There are individuals that are unable to choose an appropriate response during risky reward opportunities and thus exhibit extreme avoidance or risky behaviors that can severely impair quality of life or endanger people. It is therefore necessary to characterize how neurons mediate reward approach and threat avoidance conflict. Here, we adapted the platform-mediated avoidance conflict task (Bravo-Rivera et al 2014; Bravo-Rivera et al 2021), such that water-deprived mice could nose-poke for a light-signaled water reward and avoid a tone-signaled foot-shock by stepping onto a safety platform away from the reward port. Optogenetic activation of GABAergic neurons in the ventral pallidum invigorated reward approach at the expense of receiving shocks. Photometry recordings of glutamatergic neurons in the ventral pallidum and in the lateral habenula during conflict revealed that these structures promote avoidance and become inhibited during conflicted reward approach. These results suggest that a pallidal-habenula circuit mediates motivational conflict. We also compared behavioral conflict in male and female mice. Interestingly, females stepped on the platform earlier than males after tone onset and took longer to leave the platform after tone offset. Males received more shocks than females and received more water reward than females by the end conflict training. Moreover, females exhibited more tone-induced freezing and exhibited more frequent darting than males. These results suggest that females exhibit more avoidance behavior and less reward approach than males in the face of approach/avoidance conflict.

Robert Zatorre, PhD
2024-03-13 12:00 - 13:00 | Virtual via Zoom, CA
The Department of Cognitive Sciences’ Colloquia Series presents guest speaker Dr. Robert Zatorre, a professor in the Department of Psychology at Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University.
From Perception to Pleasure. The Neuroscience of Music and Why We Love It
Music has existed in human societies since prehistory, likely because it allows expression and regulation of emotion, and evokes pleasure. In this lecture I will present findings from cognitive neuroscience that bear on the question of how we get from perception of sound patterns to pleasurable responses. I will first discuss evidence that corticocortical loops from and to the auditory cortex are responsible not only for perceptual processes but also for working memory, sensory-motor, and predictive functions that are essential to produce and perceive music. Then, I will discuss neuroimaging and brain modulation studies from our lab focusing on the dopaminergic reward system, its involvement in musical pleasure, and what happens when that system is disrupted. I propose that pleasure in music arises from interactions between cortical loops that enable expectancies to emerge from perceived sound patterns, and subcortical systems responsible for reward and valuation. This model integrates knowledge derived from basic neuroscience of reward mechanisms with independently derived concepts, such as tension and anticipation, from music theory. It may also serve as a way of thinking more broadly about aesthetic rewards.

Krishna Jayant, PhD
2024-03-14 11:00 - 12:00 | Plumwood House, 1003 Health Sciences Rd, Irvine, CA 92617, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
The department of Anatomy & Neurobiology will host guest speaker Dr. Krishna Jayant, an assistant professor from Purdue University.
A translaminar space-time code supports touch-evoked traveling waves
Traveling waves in mammalian cortex mediate vital aspects of animal cognition, such as stimuli perception and working memory. Theoretical results suggest that these waves preserve timing and are critical for plasticity across long-range neural circuits. Therefore, revealing the circuit mechanisms underlying sensory-evoked traveling waves is critical to understanding the neural basis of sensory perception. In this talk, I will describe our recent efforts in using 2D nanotextured transparent ECoG style electrodes to map circuits orchestrating wave dynamics. Specifically, by simultaneously mapping local-field-potentials and cellular ensemble dynamics (via 2P calcium imaging), we will describe the circuit features tied to traveling waves under active and passive whisker touch. We will show that in awake mice, both passive and active whisker touch elicited traveling waves within and across barrels, with both an early and late component lasting hundreds of milliseconds. Strikingly, wave dynamics reflected the value of the tactile stimulus, and was found to be shaped by reinforcement learning. We will also describe how the late wave component is i) strongly modulated by motor feedback, ii) complements a sparse ensemble pattern across layer 2/3 which we resolved via a balanced-state network model with distributed top-down feedback, and iii) aligns with regenerative Layer 5 apical dendritic Ca2+ spikes. Our results establish a model in which translaminar spacetime patterns, organized by motor cortical feedback, sculpt touch-evoked traveling waves.

Presidential Leadership and Disability
2024-03-15 12:00 - 13:15 | Zoom Webinar
The age of presidential candidates has become a salient concern, but age is not the only physical factor that should concern citizens. Presidents can also suffer various forms of illness, both physical and psychological. This talk highlights the nature of these concerns and how we might work to mitigate their impact on political outcomes.
Free registration is open now: https://uci.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_m5HtweYgSh6t9sGnAa_hOQ#/registration
For more details, please visit: https://sites.uci.edu/centerforneuropolitics/

Anubhuti Goel, PhD
2024-03-19 10:00 - 11:00 | Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) and Virtually Via Zoom, 419 Physical Sciences Quad, Irvine, 92697, United States
Assistant Professor of the Department of Psychology Anubhuti Goel, PhD from UC Riverside Presents:
“TBD”
Hybrid: ISEB 1200 & Zoom

Conte Center @UCI 11th Annual Symposium
2024-03-26 09:00 - 16:00 | Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences & Engineering, 100 Academy Wy, Irvine, CA, 92617, United States
11th Annual Symposium
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
9:00am – 4:00pm
The Power and Potential of Big Data and Consortia
for Studying Mental Health and Disease
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Christina Chambers, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Distinguished Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Co-Director, Center for Better Beginnings
Associate Director, Altman Clinical &
Translational Research Institute
University of California, San Diego

Christine M. Heim, PhD
Director of Institute of Medical Psychology at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Caroline Nievergelt, PhD
Professor,
Department of Psychiatry
University of California, San Diego
Register for the 11th Annual Symposium
Call for Abstracts and Posters

Location:
Beckman Center Of The National Academies Of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
100 Academy, Irvine, CA 92617
Registration is free.
Questions? Please reach out to James Weinstock – jweinsto@uci.edu

Xiaoyin Chen, Ph.D.
2024-04-09 10:00 - 11:00 | Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) and Virtually Via Zoom, 419 Physical Sciences Quad, Irvine, 92697, United States
Understanding cortical organization using in situ sequencing
The UCI Center for Neural Circuit Mapping will host Xiaoyin Chen, PhD, assistant investigator of the Barcoded Connectomics Program at the Allen Institute.

Nanthia Suthana, Ph.D.
2024-04-09 11:00 - 12:00 | CNLM Herklotz Conference Center and Virtually via Zoom
Join the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (CNLM) for a hybrid event featuring Dr. Nanthia Suthana, associate professor-in-residence at the University of California, Los Angeles. This event will be held in-person in the Herklotz Conference Center and virtually via Zoom.
Unraveling Memories on the Go: Insights from Mobile Intracranial EEG Recordings in Humans

Description:
Recent technology enables the study of deep brain activity during memory phenomena in ambulatory humans navigating through real or virtual environments. Through these methods, we have shown dynamic modulation of hippocampal, entorhinal, and amygdala activity by factors like movement speed, eye movements, emotional valence and memory success. This presentation will provide an overview of these findings and explore potential clinical applications, particularly in treating neuropsychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Joshua Johansen, PhD
2024-04-11 11:00 - 12:30 | Plumwood House, 1003 Health Sciences Rd, Irvine, CA 92617, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
The department of Anatomy & Neurobiology will host guest speaker Dr. Joshua Johansen from the RIKEN Center for Brain Science
Constructing Emotional Representations in the Brain
Description:
Innately aversive experiences profoundly alter brain processing to produce emotional states which coordinate physiological and behavioral responses and instruct memory formation. However, more complex emotions occur through an evaluation of the environment in the context of past experiences and the current physiological condition of the organism. My lab studies the neural circuits and cell coding mechanisms which translate aversive experiences into simple and complex emotional states in the brain to regulate memory formation and guide behavior. I will describe our recent work identifying a brainstem neural circuit which conveys both external-sensory and internal-motor features of innately aversive experiences to create a sensorimotor state in the amygdala for producing aversive memory formation. Contrasting with this bottom-up circuit, we’ve also found that the medial prefrontal cortex encodes more complex emotional states by building an internal associative model to perform emotional inference through top-down projections to the amygdala. These studies support a new hierarchical circuit model of emotion in which sensory, bodily and cognitive factors shape neural processing across distributed neural circuits to adaptively and flexibly control defensive responding and memory formation.

Weizhe Hong, Ph.D.
2024-04-16 10:00 - 11:00 | Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) and Virtually Via Zoom, 419 Physical Sciences Quad, Irvine, 92697, United States
Neural Basis of Prosocial Behavior
The Center for Neural Circuit Mapping (CNCM) will host Dr. Weizhe Hong, a professor of biological chemistry and neurobiology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Semir Zeki, FMedSci, FRS
2024-04-16 11:00 - 12:00 | Zoom, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
Join the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (CNLM) for an online event featuring Dr. Semir Zeki, professor of neuroaesthetics at University College London. This event will be held virtually via Zoom.
The science of beauty

The experience of beauty is something that we all seek and are prepared to expend considerable energy and much money in trying to acquire. But what does it entail neurobiologically? If it is a subjective experience, can it ever be measured? Are there, or can there be, any set of characteristics that render objects beautiful, irrespective of culture and upbringing?I will address these questions from a neurobiological perspective. I will show that there cannot be a single characteristic or a single set of characteristics that can render any and every object beautiful because of the way in which our brains are organized to perceive the world. I will also show that there are, in the perception of different attributes such as visual motion, faces and bodies, criteria which are not culture or education bound which can be said to enhance their beauty and to be critical to the experience of beauty when viewing them. Finally, I will show that all works that are experienced as beautiful, regardless of source (i.e. whether visual or musical or highly cognitive – as with mathematical beauty), have, as a correlate, activity in a specific part of the reward system of the emotional brain, although the neural route used to reach that part of the brain varies, depending on what is perceived. The intensity of activity there bears a quantitative relationship to the declared intensity of the experience of beauty, thus enabling us to detect and quantify the neural correlates of a subjective experience.

Robert Malenka, MD, PhD
2024-04-19 16:00 - 17:00 | Thorp Conference Center, Gross Hall 4th Floor or Telecast: Via Zoom, 845 Health Sciences Rd, Irvine, 92617, United States
“Serotonin and Sociability: From Mouse to Man”

Robert Malenka, MD, PhD
Pritzker Professor of Psychiatry and
Behavioral Sciences
Stanford University

The MSTP Distinguished Lecture Series is proud to announce the next and final speaker for the 2023-2024 academic year, Dr. Robert Malenka, Pritzker Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University​​​​​. Please see below for event registration.
Dr. Malenka’s work focuses on elucidating the mechanisms underlying the action of neurotransmitters in the mammalian brain and the molecular mechanisms by which neural circuits are reorganized by experience. His many contributions over the last 30 years have laid the groundwork for a more sophisticated understanding of the mechanisms by which neurons communicate and the adaptations in synaptic communication which underlie all behavior. He was trained as both a clinical psychiatrist and cellular neurobiologist and has been at the forefront of helping to apply the knowledge gained from basic neuroscience research to the treatment and prevention of major brain and behavior disorders.
We look forward to seeing you there!

Laura Colgin, Ph.D.
2024-04-23 11:00 - 12:00 | CNLM Herklotz Conference Center and Virtually via Zoom
CNLM Colloquium Series
Join the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (CNLM) for a hybrid event featuring Dr. Laura Colgin, professor of neuroscience at the University of Texas at Austin. This event will be held in-person in the Herklotz Conference Center and virtually via Zoom.
Hippocampal place cell responses to spatial and non-spatial information

Description:
The hippocampus is a key brain network for episodic memory. Place cells are neurons in the hippocampus that fire in specific spatial locations known as place fields. This spatially selective firing is thought to code the “where” component of episodic memory. Yet, episodic memories contain nonspatial information also. This talk will present results showing how different populations of hippocampal place cells respond to nonspatial aspects of an experience, such as social stimuli or motivational context. The results may help explain how the hippocampus integrates different aspects of an experience into a coherent episodic memory.

UCI CFAR-DS Research Seminar Series
2024-04-26 11:00 - 12:00 | Zoom, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
The CFAR-DS Research Seminar Series hosts scientists from UC Irvine and beyond who conduct research focused on Down syndrome, including research ranging from human participants to animal models. This seminar series is intended for scientists, although all are welcome to attend. Elizabeth Fisher, PhD is Professor of Neurogenetics at the Institute of Neurology in Queen Square, University College London (UCL). She has an undergraduate degree from Oxford, and a PhD from Imperial College London. Her lab focuses on making and analyzing mouse models of neurodegeneration, including a novel humanized model of Down syndrome (trisomy 21) and humanized SOD1, FUS and TDP-43 models of ALS. Her presentation will address how humans and mice are related by just 75 million years of evolution, and scientists work with tailored mouse models to understand human genetic disorders, including Down syndrome. Dr. Fisher will show that we can understand clinical features of DS and move towards translation by working with specific mouse models.

Tian Lu, Ph.D.
2024-04-30 10:00 - 11:00 | Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) and Virtually Via Zoom, 419 Physical Sciences Quad, Irvine, 92697, United States
Spatially resolved single-cell epigenomics and functional genomics
The Center for Neural Circuit Mapping (CNCM) will host Dr. Tian Lu, a postdoctoral fellow in chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University.

Chioma Okeoma, Ph.D.
2024-04-30 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual via Zoom, CA
CNLM Colloquium Series
Join the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (CNLM) for a virtual event featuring Dr. Chioma Okeoma, associate professor of pathology, microbiology, and immunology at the New York Medical College. This event will be held virtually via Zoom.
Extracellular condensates – do we have to worry about them?

Darren Schreiber, PhD
2024-05-03 12:00 - 13:15 | Zoom Webinar
Join the UCI Center for Neuropolitics for their lecture with Darren Schreiber, PhD, JD, Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Exeterin.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner in 2024? How Partisan Identity Politics is Taking Over America
The past twenty years have demonstrated the role of biology in our political predispositions, with evidence from twin studies, genetics, and brain imaging. Recent trends have highlighted political polarization on an emotional, identity-driven level where the other side is seens as a hated enemy. The consequences have ranged from increasing dissatisfaction with democracy to a rise in violent extremism.

Daeyeol Lee, Ph.D.
2024-05-07 11:00 - 12:00 | CNLM Herklotz Conference Center and Virtually via Zoom
Join the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (CNLM) for a hybrid event featuring Dr. Daeyeol Lee, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of neuroscience, psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University. This event will be held in-person in the Herklotz Conference Center and virtually via Zoom.
Playing Games in the Brain

Description:
Social animals face the challenging task of predicting the actions of others. Game theory formalizes the decision making in social settings, and reinforcement learning theories can be applied to understand the cognitive processes involved in iterative social interactions. In this talk, I will review the neural correlates of such iterative learning in primate prefrontal cortex during simple competitive games, such as the rock-paper-scissors, as well as a more cognitively complex board game, such as the 4-in-a-row. The results from these experiments demonstrate the advantage of formal games in deciphering the neurocomputational mechanisms of decision making and planning.

2024 CNLM Award Ceremony
2024-05-09 11:00 - 14:00 | Irvine Improv, 527 Spectrum Center Dr, 527 Spectrum Center Dr, 92618, United States
Join the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (CNLM) for the 2024 CNLM Awards Ceremony.
The CNLM offers awards to exceptional postdoctoral researchers, graduate trainees, undergraduates students, faculty, and alumni. Student and trainee awardees will be invited to present their work in brief Elevator Pitch format to the UCI academic community and the public at our annual CNLM Awards Ceremony.

For more information, please visit: https://cnlm.uci.edu/awards/

Yin Shen, PhD
2024-05-14 10:00 - 11:00 | Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) and Virtually Via Zoom, 419 Physical Sciences Quad, Irvine, 92697, United States
Join the UCI Center for Neural Circuit Mapping for their lecture with Yin Shen, PhD, Associate Professor in Neurology Weill Institute for Neurosciences at the University of California, San Francisco.

Samantha Butler, PhD
2024-05-16 11:00 - 12:00 | 4201 Natural Sciences II, Irvine, CA 92697, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
“Revisiting the role(s) of netrin1 in the establishment of spinal cord circuitry.”
The department of Developmental and Cell Biology is hosting Dr Samantha Butler in their weekly seminar series. Dr Butler is the Eleanor I. Leslie Chair in Pioneering Brain Research; a professor in the UCLA Department of Neurobiology as well as the vice chair for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion; a member of the UCLA Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cell Research, the Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities Research Center, and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Lindsay Schwarz, PhD
2024-05-21 10:00 - 11:00 | Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) and Virtually Via Zoom, 419 Physical Sciences Quad, Irvine, 92697, United States
Join the UCI Center for Neural Circuit Mapping for their lecture with Lindsay Schwarz, PhD, Assistant Faculty at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
“Uncovering Diversity in Norepinephrine Neural Circuits”

Brad Postle, Ph.D.
2024-05-21 11:00 - 12:00 | CNLM Herklotz Conference Center and Virtually via Zoom
CNLM Colloquium Series
Controlling the Contents of Visual Working Memory
Join the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (CNLM) for a hybrid event featuring Dr. Brad Postle, professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This event will be held in-person in the Herklotz Conference Center and virtually via Zoom.

Description:
Two hallmarks of working memory are flexibility — ability to mentally juggle multiple pieces of information, prioritizing what’s relevant for the task immediately at hand while also keeping potentially important but currently unprioritized information in an accessible state — and updateability — allowing for the rapid replacement of the no-longer-needed with the newly relevant. This talk will explore these two aspects of the control of working memory at the levels of algorithmic operation and neural implementation. Specifically, although parsimony holds that “deprioritization” and “removal” might be accomplished via the same mechanism, I will draw on neuroimaging (EEG and fMRI), computational (RNN, RL), and behavioral data to argue for two distinct, novel, processes for controlling the contents of WM: the transformation of representational geometries as a function of priority; and the top-down hijacking of mechanisms of adaptation to accomplish active removal. This work may generalize to broader questions, such as of how we control the moment-to-moment contents of conscious awareness, and how we diagnose and treat disorders of thought.
