- Heinrich Pinardo
- Using behavioral neuroscience to study the functional role of new neurons in the hippocampus
- Psychology
Describe
your research
experience
My current research interest is using various methods in the field of behavioral neuroscience to study the functional role of new neurons in the hippocampus.
Given the critical importance of the hippocampus in spatial learning and memory, there is much interest in understanding the functional role of new neurons that are generated in the hippocampus during adulthood. Optogenetics is a novel and powerful method that uses light and light-sensitive proteins to control the activity of neurons. Our lab has created a mouse line whose new hippocampal neurons are inactivated only in response to green light. Temporary, and not permanent, inactivation of these neurons would enable us to more accurately study their functionality in behavior and cognition. In our pilot experiment, we first implanted wireless green uLEDs near the hippocampus of our transgenic mice (N=2). By robustly activating all the neurons in their brain through a seizure, we were able to clearly see a difference in the level of hippocampal activity between the mouse that had its uLED turned on and the mouse that did not. Our results show that we are able to use optogenetic techniques to inactivate new hippocampal neurons in our transgenic mouse line. In the future, we hope to replicate our finding and afterwards, conduct behavioral experiments with them that are aimed at studying the functional role of new hippocampal neurons.
As one of the recipient's of OUR's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (2015), the results of Heinrich's research can be found here.