Research
The brain’s ability to organize and integrate different experiences so that it can efficiently “file” and “cross reference” information is critical for daily life.
How do memories accumulated across a lifetime enable us to learn from past experiences to predict future outcomes? How are they recalled in maladaptive ways as a result of fear or trauma? How can they become inaccessible or lost as we age?
To explore these fundamental questions, we:
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Use calcium imaging to identify patterns of neural activity in brain circuitry
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Employ a variety of techniques to demonstrate neuronal ensemble dynamics
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Develop behavioral models to capture these brain constructs
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Explore the molecular mechanisms underlying these processes
Research Projects
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Creating stable memories is critical for survival. An animal relies on past learning to navigate its environment, avoid dangerous situations, and find needed resources. Because the environment is dynamic, stable memories must be updated with new information to enable responses to changing threats (a specific danger) and rewards (such as food and water). The brain circuits involved in memory and learning require both stability and flexibility. We are investigating how the dynamic activity of neural ensembles—and their cellular and molecular properties—support the “tug of war” between memory stability and flexibility in a mouse model. We use a broad range of techniques, tools, and behaviors to help us develop a comprehensive understanding of stability/flexibility at the molecular, cellular, and circuit levels. We study neural dynamics in awake and sleeping animals to explore how and when memories are stabilized and flexibly integrated.
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Traumatic experiences can have a profound effect on mental and emotional wellbeing and contribute to the development of debilitating neuropsychiatric illnesses, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is characterized by potentially disabling mental conditions, and common among these is a heightened state of anxiety. Individuals who suffer from PTSD may experience fear and stress in situations which are not typically threatening. The Cai Lab is investigating the circuit-level mechanisms that may underlie the heightened response to innocuous stimuli following the experience of trauma. We use a broad range of techniques, tools, and behaviors to identify the brain regions involved in the processing of trauma memories at the molecular, cellular, and circuit levels in a mouse model. We study the temporal dynamics of memory processing following trauma, and the role of sleep in memory reactivation and response to subsequent stress.
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How and why do memories change across a lifetime? Is memory loss inevitable as we age? How are the processes of normal brain aging altered in age-related disorders? We are investigating how the formation, storage, and updating of memories change with aging and in age-related disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, in mouse models. Combining in vitro and in vivo recording approaches, we look at changes in the molecular, cellular, and network level processes that may contribute to the memory deficits that occur during normal aging and in age-related disorders.