Affiliation: Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Champalimaud Research, Lisbon, Portugal and Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Instituto De Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes, Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract: How are the brain circuits supporting action learning, selection and invigoration wired? The motor system is a complex network linking cortical and subcortical areas, whose precise connectivity diagram remains elusive. The corticostriatal connection, which provides most of the excitation to the striatum, is key for motor learning and behavior. Inputs from the cortex to the striatum convey motor and contextual signals to striatal principal neurons. These corticostriatal synapses are the site of plasticity supporting striatal-depending learning and their dysfunction has catastrophic consequences, as seen in animal models and humans with movement disorders. However, how striatal principal neurons and interneurons sample and integrate inputs from different populations of cortical afferents remains poorly understood. In this talk, I will show you how using state-of-the-art circuit mapping methods, we investigated the differences in the signals that intratelencephalic and pyramidal tract (PT) cortical neurons convey, and the connectivity rules they follow, when contacting striatal neurons. We uncovered a previously unknown circuit motif where PT inputs amplify excitation to the striatum through cholinergic interneurons, with potential implications for behavior, plasticity and learning.

Bio: Nicolás A. Morgenstern graduated in Medicine from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina in 2006. He obtained his PhD in Biological Sciences from UBA at the Neuronal Plasticity Lab from the Leloir Institute in 2011, also in Argentina. In 2012, he moved to Lisbon, where he developed his postdoctoral training at the Champalimaud Foundation, leading projects in the groups of L. Petreanu and Rui Costa. His main scientific interest centers in neuronal circuits, with special focus in long-range connectivity. He combines slice electrophysiology and state-of-the-art optogenetics to study neuronal communication across distant brain areas. Since 2021, he is also part of the Lopes Lab at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes, in Lisbon, where he leads an independent research line to study age-induced synaptic alterations.

Fecha y Hora: viernes 18 de noviembre, 12.30 horas

Lugar: Seminario 4