SnapTag: Tagging active ensembles using a Strong Neuronal Activity Promoter

描述(由申请者提供)：感官体验被捕获并转化为大脑中长期持续变化的方式对适应行为至关重要。感觉信息处理缺陷是许多破坏性神经精神疾病的显著特征，如自闭症、精神分裂症和抑郁症。每一次体验都会激活大脑特定区域内的一组独特的神经元。虽然我们现在知道在许多情况下，大脑区域与特定类型的感觉体验有关，但我们对负责编码特定感觉信息的特定神经元集合的身份知之甚少，更不用说潜在的分子和细胞机制了。这项拟议的研究的目标是通过开发一种通用的系统来填补我们知识中的这一空白，该系统允许在神经元参与处理涌入的感觉信息时识别和操纵神经元集合。使用这一系统，我们的长期目标是探索感觉体验与神经网络突触属性修改的细胞和分子机制，并了解这一过程的破坏如何导致认知缺陷。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The way in which sensory experience is captured and converted into long lasting changes in the brain is critical for adaptive behaviors. A deficit in sensory information processing is a pronounced feature shared by many devastating neuropsychiatric disorders such autism, schizophrenia and depression. Each experience activates a unique set of neurons within specific regions of the brain. While we now know in many cases the brain regions that are associated with particular types of sensory experience, we know very little about the identity of specific ensembles of neurons that are responsible for the encoding of specific sensory information, let alone the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms. The goal of this proposed study is to fill this gap in our knowledge by developing a versatile system that allows for the identification and manipulation of ensembles of neurons as they participate in the processing of the influx of sensory information. Using this system, our long term goal is to explore the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which sensory experience is coupled to modification of the synaptic properties of neural networks and to understand how disruption of this process leads to cognitive deficits.