TP Sirota/Herz: Attractor dynamics in entorhino-hippocampal circuits

PhD student Elena Itzcovich:

"My PhD is about attractors dynamics in the entorhino-hippocampal circuit.

The entorhino-hippocampal circuit is widely believed to perform the dual function of forming episodic memories and guiding spatial navigation, with external sensory inputs giving rise to internal representations of both memory content and a “cognitive” map for space. However, the interactions between the various areas of the entorhino-hippocampal formation are not yet clearly understood.

A potential key mechanism supporting stable and flexible representation in the entorhino-hippocampal formation are attractor dynamics. I thus aim to study how attractor dynamics can contribute to the plasticity of EC-HPC representations.

In the context of my project I employ

• state-of-the-art multichannel extracellular recording from populations of neurons in medial entorhinal cortex and hippocampus of freely moving rodents,
• calcium imaging (Miniscope) and
• optogenetic techniques to study and perturb with fine temporal control the circuit"

Hippocampal slice showing transfection of DG and CA3 with rAAV5/CamKIIa-hChR2(E123T/T159C)-eYFP, overlay by Tommasso Caudullo