SSA:Encoding of decision making by dopamine neurons

了解我们如何在不确定性面前做出决定，以及我们如何权衡风险和回报，这仍然是神经科学面临的一个核心挑战。很明显，多巴胺发出的信号在这些计算中起着关键作用。然而，负责这些信号的多巴胺神经元是不同的，它们建立的解剖连接，它们的分子组成，以及它们对行为的编码；尚不清楚这些不同的群体如何产生用于决策的信号。这一博士学位的重点是定义不同群体的多巴胺神经元如何编码决策和行动的各个方面。为了实现这一点，我们将使用一种创新的方法，结合尖端的神经生理学技术和先进的计算模型：为了记录行为正常的小鼠的单个多巴胺神经元，我们将利用我们最近开发的一项新技术(Dodson等人)。2015、2016)。这种方法不仅允许人们识别每个记录的神经元的准确位置和神经化学身份，而且还可以询问它们表达哪些关键蛋白以及它们神经支配的大脑区域(从而将神经元细分为不同的群体)。然后我们将使用计算模型来探索我们记录的信号如何与决策过程的不同部分相关。在博士期间，学生将有机会学习并发展他们在以下方面的技能：活体记录、动物行为、神经解剖学和免疫组织化学、显微镜、数据分析和编程以及计算建模。

Understanding how we make decisions in the face of uncertainty and how we weigh risk and rewardremains a central challenge for neuroscience. It is clear that signalling by dopamine plays a pivotal rolein these calculations. However, the dopamine neurons responsible for these signals are diverse interms of the anatomical connections they make, their molecular make-up, and their encoding ofbehaviour; it is not clear how these different populations generate the signals used for decisionmaking. The focus of this PhD is to define how different populations of dopamine neurons encodeaspects of decision-making and action. To achieve this, we will use an innovative approach, combiningcutting-edge neurophysiological techniques and advanced computational models:To record from individual dopamine neurons in behaving mice we will take advantage of a newtechnique we recently developed (Dodson et al. 2015, 2016). This approach not only allows one toidentify the precise location and neurochemical identity of each recorded neuron, but also tointerrogate which key proteins they express and which brain regions they innervate (and thussubdivide neurons into their different populations). We will then use computational models to probehow the signals we record are related to different parts of the decision-making process.During the PhD, the student will have the opportunity to learn, and develop their skills in: in vivorecording, animal behaviour, neuroanatomy and immunohistochemistry, microscopy, data analysisand programming, and computational modelling.