Research Scientist

Cellular and Molecular Physiology

Yale School of Medicine (New Haven, CT)

Functional organization of individual vertebrate neurons as revealed by optical recording of membrane potential signals using voltage-sensitive dyes.

Understanding the biophysical properties of single neurons and how they process information is fundamental to understanding how brain works because brain function depends critically on how exactly are signals integrated by individual nerve cells functioning as complex operational units. The principles of information processing in single neurons can only be determined by studying specific neuronal types in different experimental models. Studying the functional organization of a neuron requires monitoring of the activity of different parts of the same cell simultaneously. Thus, it is necessary to complement the conventional patch-electrode approach with technologies that permit a massive parallel recording from individual neurons. We achieve this goal by using high-speed (10 KHz) high-resolution (individual dendritic spines) multi-site monitoring with intracellular voltage-sensitive dyes (voltage-imaging). The long term objective of the current research is to develop a full understanding of the functional organization and the computational task of several major neuronal classes by linking experimental measurements of membrane potential dynamics along neuronal processes, obtained by voltage imaging, to numerical simulations (multi-compartmental computer models).