Resumen: The neocortex is organized in a hierarchy of functionally specialized areas. This architecture influences our understanding of sensory, motor and cognitive processes and inspires machine learning algorithms. Several theories suggest how the multi-level network of the neocortex might allow us to build complex representations of the world, use prior experience to interpret current events, predict the consequence of our actions or learn from experience. However, the computations that the hierarchical organization of the neocortex network endows us with remain largely unknown.  This in large part due to the lack of understanding of organizing rules in cortico-cortical connections that could inspire and constrain theories of cortical computation. I will present recent experiments from my group where we use optical recordings and circuit mapping methods to unveil the organizing rules of inter-area networks in the mouse visual cortex. We found the long-range cortical connections are organized with great cell-type and tuning-dependent specificity, forming large distributed networks with precise connectivity. Our observations shine light on the computations implemented by long-range cortical networks, constraining existing theories of cortical computations.

Bio: Leopoldo Petreanu graduated in Biology at the University of Buenos Aires. He then moved to New York where he obtained a Ph.D. at The Rockefeller University studying how newly-generated neurons integrate into the circuits of the adult mouse olfactory bulb. He continued studying circuits, this time of the cerebral cortex of the mouse during his postdoctoral research at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the Janelia Farm Research Campus. Using novel circuit mapping and imaging methods he studied the connectivity and activity of the long-range inputs innervating the mouse cerebral cortex. His laboratory plans to study how the different areas of the cortex work in concert during behavior by using a combination of imaging, physiological and behavioral methods.

Fecha y hora: Viernes, 24 de enero de 2020, 12:30 h. 

Lugar: Seminario IV.