SSA: The role of VTA GABA neurons in reward learning

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Understanding how we learn to make associations between rewarding outcomes and the cues that predict them (e.g.the ice-cream van jingle and a delicious treat) remains a central challenge for neuroscience and is critical for tacklingmaladaptations like drug addiction. Recent evidence suggests that GABA neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA)may shape the way the brain performs the calculations important for learning, but the details of how they do this arenot yet clear.Furthermore, it has recently been found that there are multiple populations of these GABA neurons which are diverseboth in terms of their molecular make-up and the anatomical connections they make. This raises the possibility thatdifferent populations play different roles in learning, and transmit diverse signals to different brain regions. The focusof this PhD is to define how different populations of VTA GABA neurons encode aspects of reward-learning. To achievethis, we will combine cutting-edge neurophysiological techniques and advanced computational models.To record from individual dopamine neurons in behaving mice we will take advantage of a new technique we recentlydeveloped (Dodson et al. 2015, 2016). This approach not only allows one to identify the precise location andneurochemical identity of each recorded neuron, but also to interrogate which key proteins they express and whichbrain regions they innervate (and thus subdivide neurons into their different populations). We will then usecomputational models to probe how the signals we record are related to different parts of the learning process.During the PhD, the student will have the opportunity to learn, and develop their skills in: in vivo recording, animalbehaviour, neuroanatomy and immunohistochemistry, microscopy, data analysis and programming, andcomputational modelling