Peter Jonas: The long way from synaptic biophysics to neuronal network function
When |
Dec 11, 2019
from 12:15 PM to 01:15 PM |
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Where | Institute of Biology I, Hauptstraße 1, 79104 Freiburg, Lecture Hall, 1st Floor |
Contact Name | Ad Aertsen |
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Abstract
Synapses are key sites of information exchange in the nervous system. How synaptic properties shape higher order computations in the brain is largely unknown. We addressed this fundamental question at the hippocampal mossy fiber synapse, a synapse that connects pattern separation circuits of the dentate gyrus with the pattern completion circuits of the CA3 region. We found that presynaptic short-term plasticity profoundly regulates the synaptic computations at the level of unitary synaptic connections. Furthermore, our results suggest that presynaptic plasticity regulates the balance between pattern separation and pattern completion in multi-layer networks. The results illustrate how we are beginning to understand the relation between synaptic properties and network function, from the level of biophysical properties up to the level of behavior.
More about Peter Jonas and his research:
Institute of Science and Technology (IST), Austria