DONATE MAINS

14th June 2019, 12h10
(Passage d’innovation - 74, rue du Faubourg Saint Antoine)

Benjamin Scholl (Functional Architecture and Development of Cerebral Cortex Fitzpatric Lab, Max Planck Florida Institute)

Invited by Dimitrii Tanese

 

Abstract: Understanding how single neurons integrate synaptic inputs from myriad sources remains a significant challenge. The functional properties of individual synaptic inputs, their organization on dendrites, and the synaptic architecture logic within cortical circuits is largely unknown. To address this issue we use a variety of techniques including in vivo subcellular two-photon calcium imaging, whole-cell electrophysiology, and optogenetics to study the synaptic populations underlying feature selectivity of individual neurons in ferret visual cortex. In contrast to prevailing theories, we find that synaptic populations exhibit a great amount of diversity in their selectivity for visual features. Despite this diversity, however, we identify principles governing the arrangement of synaptic inputs within the dendritic tree and the functional arrangements of excitatory and inhibitory inputs that shape feature selectivity.