Tools for Mapping the Circuits that Generate Intelligent Behaviors

The circuits that generate intelligent behaviors are large, 3-D structures that operate with millisecond timescale precision and are organized at the nanoscale. We are working on new technologies, including novel methods of super-resolution light microscopy that can image large 3-D structures with nanoscale precision, novel methods of fast imaging of neural dynamics in the living brain, novel microfabricated electrode arrays that can record electrical activity of many neurons at once in the living mammalian and perhaps even human brain, and new ways to activate and silence the activity of neurons throughout neural networks with pulses of light. By mapping brain circuits with molecular precision, recording the dynamics within brain circuits, and controlling the dynamics, we aim to examine how neurons in brain networks work together to generate the computations that support intelligent behavior, in species including mice, non-human primates, and humans, throughout the CBMM network.