Understanding the Brain
The Neuroscience Research Centre was established with the vision of having experts from diverse fields working together to tackle the challenges of neuroscience. The brain is a fascinatingly complex organ, and an inter-disciplinary approach is best suited to understand the myriad intricacies of brain function. As a testimony to that, the primary faculty at the centre range from biologists & chemists to engineers & physicists. The centre has advanced imaging techniques for visualizing neural function. Multi-photon imaging is used to study neural processes involved in learning and research
The work in the lab attempt to dissect the fundamental role of dynamic nanoscale organization of synaptic molecules in how synapse process and relay information. To achieve this, we follow an interdisciplinary research paradigm at the interface of high-end microscopy, molecular biology, and cellular neuroscience. In order to comprehend the role of spatial heterogeneity in synapses, it is important to determine structural organization of molecular components of nano sized protein domains. State of the art Super-resolution imaging based on single molecule-based techniques (STORM, PALM) will be used to observe the real-time organization of these complexes in live cells at 10-50nm in combination with single cell gene editing in neurons and human neurons derived from patients with neurological or neurodegenerative disorders. The outcome is expected to provide a structural basis for real-time molecular organization in synaptic transmission contributing to higher order cognitive processes in health and disease.
The laboratory uses the small free-living nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans to understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying synaptic function. They are trying to get insight into the signaling role of cell adhesion molecules at the neuromuscular junction and are also interested in understanding the molecular basis of various locomotory behaviors in C. elegans. Tools and techniques used in the lab include genetics, molecular biology, imaging experiments, behavioral assays optogenetics and CRISPR-Cas9 based gene modifications.
Stepping barefoot on a pin is excruciatingly painful and evokes an intense and immediate physical reaction as well as an emotional response. We rub our feet where it hurts, we scream in pain, we move away from the spot to avoid experiencing the pain a second time. We also remember the spot on the floor where the pin was, and we try to avoid walking there again until we know there are no more pins lying around. In essence, all of our physical and mental capacities are overtaken momentarily by a relatively inconsequential event. Research group seeks to understand how small groups of neurons in the brain are able to drive specific aspects of such defensive behaviours. How do these neurons receive the painful information? What are the molecular characteristics of these neurons? What are their anatomical architectures? How do these neurons communicate with the rest of the nervous system? In the research lab intends to answer these questions by taking advantage of molecular and optical tools to manipulate behaviour, map circuits, and record neural activity in mice.
Fundamental cognitive processes like neural control of action and neural mechanisms of object recognition are studied using electrical recordings from the brain, behavioural experiments and computational approaches. Work done by research group in understanding these mechanisms will help comprehend the pathogenesis in conditions where motor control is compromised, resulting in motor abnormalities e.g. Parkinson’s disease.
When it comes to object recognition, no computer algorithm, as of today, matches human performance and yet, very little is known about the processes using which the brain performs object recognition.
Scientist Suresh’s group studies how cognitive phenomena, such as attention and decision making, emerge in the brain. For this they use neuroimaging (including functional MRI and EEG) as well as neurostimulation (TMS, tACS) in human participants performing complex attention tasks. They focuses on understanding how emotional and motivational factors influence perception and cognition at multiple levels: brain, behaviour, and physiology. To probe these interactions, his lab uses behavioural paradigms in combination with high-resolution functional MRI and physiological skin conductance recording.
We take for granted our ability to solve almost any complex task through consistent and diligent practice – be it learning how to ace a tennis serve or plan an optimal chess move. Yet we understand very little about how our brains pull off these remarkable feats of learning that surpass the capabilities of any extant computer algorithm. To understand the neural mechanisms underlying the learning of complex behaviours by taking advantage of high-throughput automated methods to train, record and manipulate neural activity in behaving rodents.
The young and growing centre has still many paths to traverse, but one can certainly hope that with such a vibrant interdisciplinary and collaborative effort, the research at Neuroscience will unravel some of the many mysteries of the human brain.
Unlike our brain that has billions of neurons and trillions of synapses, the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has 302 neurons and around 7000 synapses. Our laboratory is interested in understanding two fundamental questions in synaptic biology:
Our laboratory uses genetics, imaging techniques including neuronal imaging, FRAP, optogenetic experiments, electrophysiological recordings and cell and molecular biology techniques including CRISPR-Cas9 and RNAi to better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal and synaptic function.
Visuospatial attention may facilitate neural processing of the selected stimulus through two mechanisms: either by influencing perceptual sensitivity or by altering decisional bias. We seek to study the putative causal contributions of areas in the prefrontal cortex, and the posterior parietal cortex to sensitivity and bias modulation during spatial attention. We will apply non-invasive Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to focally interfere with the activity in these regions.
The results will provide important insights into the mechanisms by which these key regions in the frontoparietal cortex, and their associated brain rhythms, contribute to visuospatial selective attention.
Similarly, we will be using transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to entrain brain oscillations and understand neural correlates between frontoparietal cortex and selective visual attention.
