Dr. Mark Shein-Idelson
Our goal is to understand how collective neuronal activity is organized and how this organization sub-serves coding in the brain. We seek to expose the simple, most fundamental principles that underlie the multi-scale complexity of neuronal systems. To extract these principles, we take a unique perspective by exploring neuronal dynamics in the “simpler” brains of reptiles and amphibians. This choice is motivated by the acknowledgement that brains and neuronal coding schemes are products of evolution and can be flashed out by comparative approaches and choices of optimal models systems.
Tools: We employ a wide set of techniques to study the hitherto under-explored reptilian brain. Specifically, we use large-scale (thousands of electrodes) extra-cellular electrophysiology and intra-cellular electrophysiology to study circuits both ex-vivo and in-vivo. We develop data analysis approaches to deal with the overgrowing richness of our data sets. We couple our experiments with quantitative behavioral analysis to place brain dynamics in context. We build computational models to test ideas and develop theories.
Behavioral Neuroscience
Computational & Theoretical Neuroscience
System & Physiological Neuroscience
- Hemberger M, Shein-Idelson M, Pammer L and Laurent G (2019). Reliable sequential activation of neural assemblies by single pyramidal cells in a three layered cortex. Neuron.
- Shein-Idelson M, Pammer L, Hemberger M and Laurent G (2017). Large-scale mapping of cortical synaptic projections with extracellular electrode arrays. Nature Methods 14(9):882-890.
- Shein-Idelson M*,Ondracek J M*, Liaw H, Reiter S, Laurent G (2016). Slow Waves, Sharp-waves, Ripples and REM in Sleeping Dragons. Science. 352 (6285), 590-595.
- Naumann R K, Ondracek J M, Reiter S, Shein-Idelson M, Tosches M A, Yamawaki T M, Laurent G (2015). The reptilian brain. Current Biology 25 (8), 317–321.
