Contextual Representation of Tactile Information in Mouse Primary Somatosensory Cortex

职业规划和职业发展环境：伊曼纽尔博士是美国加州大学洛杉矶分校博士实验室的联合博士后研究员。大卫·金蒂和克里斯·哈维，他致力于学术研究。Drs。伊曼纽尔、金蒂和哈维制定了一个12点职业发展计划，使伊曼纽尔博士能够过渡到一个独立的研究职位。该计划结合了哈佛医学院现有的资源，包括来自社区神经生物系和更广泛的哈佛医学院社区的正式和非正式培训。正式培训包括参加有关专业发展和负责任的研究行为的研讨会，以及与更广泛的科学界接触，出版描述伊曼纽尔博士工作的手稿，并在国际会议上发表演讲。总的来说，这个计划将为伊曼纽尔博士过渡到独立的职业生涯做好最佳准备。研究计划：该项目的目标是确定皮层和皮层下神经回路如何在初级体感皮层中产生复杂特征的表征，以及这些表征如何适应动物的行为。具体来说，本提案中的实验将使用小鼠遗传方法和体内电生理学来解决初级体感皮层中速度、方向和方向调节的神经基础（目的1）。结合体内电生理学和基因操作，以及初级体感皮层的记录，将确定这些皮层表征对触觉行为表现的必要程度和适应程度（目标2）。最后，结合自由运动动物的体内电生理学和现代计算机视觉来监测行为和施加在皮肤上的力，将确定初级体感皮层中的神经元在自然运动和环境相互作用中是如何参与的（目标3）。总之，这些实验将深入了解中枢神经系统感觉处理的基本过程。

Career Plan and Environment of Career Development: Dr. Emanuel is a joint postdoctoral fellow in the laboratories of Drs. David Ginty and Chris Harvey who is dedicated to a career as an academic researcher. Drs. Emanuel, Ginty, and Harvey have developed a 12-point career development plan that will enable Dr. Emanuel's transition to an independent research position. This plan incorporates resources available at Harvard Medical School, including formal and informal training from the community within the Department of Neurobiology and the broader Harvard Medical School community. Formal training includes attendance at seminars on professional development and responsible conduct of research as well as engaging the wider scientific community with publication of manuscripts describing Dr. Emanuel's work and presentations at international meetings. Overall, this plan will optimally prepare Dr. Emanuel for the transition to an independent career. Research Plan: The goal of this project is to determine how the representation of complex features in primary somatosensory cortex are produced by cortical and subcortical neural circuitry and how these representations are adapted for the behavior of the animal. Specifically, the experiments in this proposal will use mouse genetic approaches and in vivo electrophysiology to address the neural underpinnings of speed, direction, and orientation tuning in primary somatosensory cortex (Aim 1). Combining in vivo electrophysiology with genetic manipulations and recording from primary somatosensory cortex will determine the extent to which these cortical representations are necessary for and adapt to performance of tactile behaviors (Aim 2). Finally, combining in vivo electrophysiology in freely moving animals with modern computer vision for monitoring behavior and the force applied to the skin will determine how neurons in primary somatosensory cortex are engaged during natural movements and environmental interactions (Aim 3). In all, these experiments will yield insight into the fundamental processes underlying sensory processing in the central nervous system.