The brain has a tremendous capacity to adapt and in the young brain when brief periods of specific sensory inputs cause profound rewiring of the cortex. This activity-dependent plasticity is necessary for the refinement of neural networks into functional units underlying cognition and behavior. Although plasticity is reduced in the adult brain, new memories are encoded and skills can be learnt throughout life. The neural mechanisms that underlie plasticity in the adult brain remain elusive.
Insights into basic mechanisms of brain function are essential to understand what goes wrong in the diseased brain. Targeted manipulation of brain areas, neurons or molecules in behavioral paradigms may reveal underlying mechanisms of neurological and psychiatric disease and possibly novel drug targets. Eventually, we will try to link such translational research with clinical findings in humans.
Methods in use in our research group:
- Large scale extracellular recordings of populations of neurons.
- In vivo multiphoton imaging on neural function.
- Genetic tools for cell type specific targeting; viral vectors, optogenetics and transgenic mouse lines.
- Behavioural tasks.
- Immunohistochemistry.
- Computational modeling og neural circuits.
The Hafting-Fyhn lab is a research group in the Section for Physiology and Cell Biology and is also part of Centre for Integrative Neuroplasticity (www.cinpla.org). CINPLA is a larger research environment bringing experimental and computational neuroscience together in order to solve long-standing questions in neuroscience. Our lab is a vibrant group of talented students and researchers. The new master students will be teamed up with experienced post docs and PhD students who will be co-supervisors together with M. Fyhn and T. Hafting.
We may offer 2-4 challenging and exciting master projects to dedicated students :
- Identify neural mechanisms of a behavioral phenomenon called pre-pulse inhibition which is impaired in e.g. schizophrenia. This topic represent several projects involving animal behavior, electrophysiology, optogenetics and perhaps genome editing (CRISPR/CAS9).
- Identify the role extracellular matrix molecules and metallopeptidases in memory processing. This is a line of projects that are novel as well as continuation of ongoing projects involving electrophysiology, imaging, transgenic mice and animal behavior.
- Understanding neural and network function by use of computational tools in combination with experimental data.
For more information contact: Marianne.fyhn@ibv.uio.no