Pondering Neuronal Circuits and Computations: the Power of Zebrafish with Rainer Friedrich

Despite many advances in neuroscience the fundamental question of how brains make computations is as yet unanswered.  Progress has been hindered by the inabilities to monitor activities of large numbers of neurons during natural behaviors and to determine the structures and synaptic connections of all neurons involved in circuits mediating computations. Recent progress towards overcoming these hurdles has come from studies of Zebrafish in Professor Rainer Friedrich’s laboratory at the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel Switzerland. Here Rainer talks about Zebrafish brain development, structure, and function. and how technological advances in genetics, brain imaging, dense reconstruction of neuronal connectivity, and virtual reality are being used to elucidate fundamental mechanisms by which neuronal circuits make computations.

Links:

Rainer Friedrich’s lab page: https://www.fmi.ch/research-groups/groupleader.html?group=119

Virtual reality: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7100911/pdf/EMS85577.pdf

Review article on Zebrafish behaviors: https://www-annualreviews-org.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-neuro-071714-033857

Odor coding: https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0960-9822%2817%2931452-5

Synaptic balance: https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0896-6273%2818%2930786-4

Dense circuit reconstruction: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5100684/pdf/sdata2016100.pdf