4月12日 张思宇:Top-down modulation of visual processing


报告题目: Top-down modulation of visual processing

时间: 2019年4月12日 上午10:00

地点: 中北校区 脑功能基因组学研究所一楼

报告人: 张思宇 博士 

上海交通大学 基础医学院

主持人: 潘逸萱 博士


报告人简介:

张思宇,上海交通大学基础医学院解剖学与生理学系研究员。本科毕业于南京大学(2004年),2010年于中科院上海生科院神经科学研究所获得博士学位(蒲慕明老师研究组);2010-2016年在美国加州大学伯克利分校霍华德.休斯研究员Yang Dan教授实验室担任博士后/霍华德.休斯研究专员,主要研究与视觉选择性注意相关的神经环路,相关工作发表于Science,Nature,Nature Neuroscience等国际一流杂志。2016年加入上海交通大学医学院,任“神经环路与行为调控研究组”课题组组长。本实验室使用在清醒行为小鼠中进行光遗传学操作、在体电信号记录、在体钙成像的实验系统,辅以离体脑片光遗传学操作及电信号记录以及全脑范围的病毒介导的解剖学示踪技术来系统的研究与选择性注意相关的各脑区,在全脑范围构建与选择性注意相关的大脑结构的功能性连接图谱。在此基础上,通过与相关医院和专家建立高效的合作体系,研究与疾病相关的基因对选择性注意相关神经环路的影响,推动对选择性注意缺陷患者的精准治疗。


报告简介:

Top-down selective attention is a powerful cognitive process allowing us to selectively process task-relevant sensory stimuli. Decades of studies in the primate have identified the frontal eye field (FEF) as an important source of attentional modulation, but how the FEF controls attention is unknown. I have identified mouse cingulate cortex (Cg) that not only enhances visual cortical responses but also improves performance in a visual task, similar to the primate FEF. Combining the genetic and viral tools available for the mouse model, I dissected the underlying microcircuits by optogenetically manipulating specific cell types both *in vivo* and in brain slices. My results have shown that the Cg to primary visual cortex (V1) glutamatergic projection can elicit both center facilitation and surround suppression by activating different types of local GABAergic neurons in V1 (Zhang et al., *Science*, 2014). Besides the Cg?V1 direct projections, there could be multiple other cortical and subcortical brain regions interact with Cg and/or V1 and play important roles in top-down modulation. We developed a software package for high throughput whole-brain anatomical data processing. Using virus-assisted anterograde and retrograde circuit tracing, I have identified the brain networks for top-down modulation of visual processing. Furthermore, using a novel method for targeting subpopulations of frontal neurons with specific projection targets (V1 or superior colliculus), I delineated two distinct subnetworks within the visual network (perception and action subnetworks) (Zhang et al., *Nature Neuroscience*, 2016). These data provide an anatomical blueprint for future physiological investigation of the brain mechanisms for top-down attentional modulation and behavioral control.