BRAIN EAGER: Multiscale dynamics and emergent properties of suprachiasmatic circuits in real time

该奖项由整合和组织系统部门的神经系统集群和生物基础设施部门的生物研究仪器开发计划(IDBR)联合颁发。理解大脑如何使我们思考、行动、学习和记忆是具有挑战性的。由于缺乏相互作用的动态图景和当相互连接的脑细胞(神经元)对经验做出反应而被激活时出现的属性，进展受到阻碍。这些相互作用会导致我们行为的改变，并可能影响这些神经元随后的活动，这一过程被称为可塑性。该计划将开发和使用新创建的补充技术，这些技术将非侵入性地实时控制、测量和分析大脑网络动态和变化。来自伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校的神经科学家、工程师和化学家将共同努力，各自带来解决这个问题的尖端方法。方法包括：1)分析在培养皿中保持动态特性的脑组织切片；2)通过新的光学方法对神经元活动进行实时、无标记的成像；3)使用灵活、清晰的电极直接与细胞接触来激活和测量神经元活动；以及4)测量和识别经验释放的大脑化学物质的模式。这些方法将一起应用，以更好地理解大脑信息处理和可塑性的动态地理学。对大脑在空间和时间上的动力学进行如此全面的研究是从未有过的。未来，这些技术可以应用于许多大脑区域，以促进理解，扩大影响。学生将接受常规学科以外的培训，以便神经科学、成像技术、电极新材料工程以及神经元对神经元信号的高分辨率分析将一起教授和使用。结果将有助于劳动力接受新方法的培训，以解决超越当前边界的问题。神经细胞和神经回路的动态相互作用和新特性是什么编码经验并产生复杂行为的变化？多层神经元回路中信号流动和演化的时间和空间动力学一直难以理解。这项拟议的研究将通过变革性研究来解决这一差距，该研究将基础神经科学方面的卓越与非侵入性成像、材料开发和神经化学分析方面的创新技术联系起来。重点将放在视交叉上核(SCN)中的替代感觉信号的处理上，SCN是大脑的昼夜节律起搏器，产生长期的行为变化。这一倡议将使一项开创性的计划能够开发和集成新的非侵入性动作电位成像，通过光学信号的定量相位成像、原始、透明、生物兼容的电极的刺激/传感以及复杂肽释放特征的化学分析来评估，以了解大鼠SCN回路中信息流的时空动力学。这些方法将一起应用，以更好地理解大脑信息处理和可塑性的动态地理学。对大脑在空间和时间上的动力学进行如此全面的研究，以前还没有人做过。未来，这些技术可以应用于许多大脑区域，以促进理解，扩大影响。学生将接受常规学科以外的培训，以便神经科学、成像技术、电极新材料工程以及神经元对神经元信号的高分辨率分析将一起教授和使用。成果将有助于培训一支接受过新方法培训的劳动力，使其能够超越当前的界限工作。

This award is being made jointly by the Neural Systems Cluster in the Division of Integrative and Organismal Systems and the Instrument Development for Biological Research program (IDBR) in the Division of Biological Infrastructure. Understanding how the brain enables us to think, act, learn, and remember is challenging. Progress has been impeded by lack of a dynamic picture of interactions and properties that emerge when tiers of interconnected brain cells (neurons) are activated in response to experiences. These interactions cause changes in our behaviors and can affect subsequent activities of these neurons, a process called plasticity. This proposal will develop and use newly created, complementary technologies that will non-invasively control, measure, and analyze brain network dynamics and change in real time. Neuroscientists, engineers, and chemists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will work together, each bringing cutting-edge methods to bear on this problem. Approaches include: 1) analyzing slices of brain tissue that maintain dynamic properties in a dish; 2) real-time, label-free imaging of neuron activity by novel optical methods; 3) activating and measuring neuronal activity with flexible, clear electrodes that interface directly with cells; and, 4) measuring and identifying patterns of brain chemicals released by experiences. These approaches will be applied together to better understand the dynamic geography of brain information processing and plasticity. Such comprehensive studies of brain dynamics in space and time have never been done. In the future, these technologies can be applied to many brain regions to advance understanding, broadening their impact. Students will be trained beyond usual disciplines, so that neuroscience, imaging technology, engineering of new materials for electrodes, and high-resolution analysis of neuron-to-neuron signals will be taught and used together. Outcomes will contribute to a workforce trained in new ways to tackle problems beyond current boundaries.What dynamic interactions and emergent properties of neuronal cells and circuits encode experience and generate changes in complex behaviors? Understanding the temporal and spatial dynamics of signal flow and evolution in multi-tiered neuronal circuits has been elusive. The proposed study will address this gap through transformational research that bridges excellence in fundamental neuroscience with innovative technologies in non-invasive imaging, materials development, and neurochemical analysis. Focus will be on processing of a surrogate sensory signal in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the brain's circadian pacemaker, that generates long-term behavioral change. This initiative will enable a pioneering program to develop and integrate novel non-invasive imaging of action potentials assessed by quantitative phase imaging of optical signals, stimulation/sensing by original, transparent, biocompatible electrodes, and chemical analyses of complex peptide-release signatures to understand the spatiotemporal dynamics of information flow in rat SCN circuits. These approaches will be applied together to better understand the dynamic geography of brain information processing and plasticity. Such comprehensive studies of brain dynamics in space and time have not been done previously. In the future, these technologies can be applied to many brain regions to advance understanding, broadening their impact. Students will be trained beyond usual disciplines, so that neuroscience, imaging technology, engineering of new materials for electrodes, and high-resolution analysis of neuron-to-neuron signals will be taught and used together. Outcomes will contribute to a workforce trained in new ways to work beyond current boundaries.