Restricted Research - Award List, Note/Discussion Page
Fiscal Year: 2023
2452 The University of Texas at San Antonio (144340)
Principal Investigator: Lerner,Itamar
Total Amount of Contract, Award, or Gift (Annual before 2011): $ 70,151
Exceeds $250,000 (Is it flagged?): No
Start and End Dates: 2/25/20 - 11/30/21
Restricted Research: YES
Academic Discipline: Psychology
Department, Center, School, or Institute: HCAP PSYCHOLOGY
Title of Contract, Award, or Gift: Understanding and Modifying Temporal Dynamics of Coordinated Neural Activity - 0845 G XB966 (ABH-9962)
Name of Granting or Contracting Agency/Entity:
University of California - Los Angeles
CFDA Link: HHS
93.242
Program Title:
none
CFDA Linked: Mental Health Research Grants
Note:
SAMs 1.1.1 This research project is aimed to investigate the relation between memory replay during Slow Wave Sleep (SWS) in the rat hippocampus and the resulting behavioral facilitation following sleep when rats are performing a task requiring insight into temporal patterns. In addition, the project aims at investigating the role of norepinephrine secretion by the Locus Coeruleus (LC) during SWS in this facilitation, and whether optogenetic stimulation of the LC, coupled to memory replay, can increase the facilitatory effect. The project involves rodent experimentation and analysis, as well as the development of a computational model of the brains mechanisms involved. The PI will be responsible for the development of the computational model, including running the simulations of a biologically inspired hippocampal-cortical neural network that is aimed at replicating the experimental results, specifically the effect of memory replay during sleep on behavior in the task; explain the results from a network learning perspective; and produce new testable predictions that can be validated in additional experiments. The model will also include an LC module that accounts for the effects of this brain structure on memory replay and how optogenetic stimulations may modulate this effect. In addition, the PI will be involved in developing the behavioral tasks to be used in the rat experimentation, as well as in parts of the experimental data analysis.
Discussion: No discussion notes