Mriganka Sur Laboratory at MIT. Plasticity, or the adaptive response of the brain to changes in inputs, is essential to brain development and function. The developing brain requires a genetic blueprint but is also acutely sensitive to the environment. The adult brain constantly adapts to changes in stimuli, and this plasticity is manifest not only as learning and memory but also as dynamic changes in information transmission and processing. The goal of the Sur laboratory is to understand long-term plasticity and short-term dynamics in networks of the developing and adult cortex. In addition, we aim to use insights from brain development to understand mechanisms of developmental brain disorders. Latest Publications Perea G, Yang A, Boyden E. and Sur M. Sur M., I. Li Y, Wang H, Muffat J, Cheng AW, Orlando DA, Lovén J, Kwok S, Feldman DA, Bateup HS, Gao Q, Hockemeyer D, Mitalipova M, Lewis CA, Vander Heiden MG, Sur M, Young RA, Jaenisch R. Runyan CA, Sur M. Castro J, Mellios N, Sur M.
Research | The Seung Lab. About Us | picower. The Moore Lab - Cortical Dynamics & Perception. Overview of Our Research My goal is to understand the neural mechanisms of perception. My specific focus is to understand how dynamics in the neocortex, changes in its operating characteristics on millisecond time scales, shape these processes. We study the mechanisms that generate these dynamics (for a recent review, see Moore et al., in press Cell) and their meaning for information processing.
This problem requires a multi-disciplinary approach, and we draw principles and techniques from neuroscience, computation, biology and bioengineering. As one example, we recently demonstrated that a specific cell type in the neocortex can drive emergence of the ‘gamma’ rhythm, an oscillation associated with attention and with enhanced perceptual performance (Cardin et al., 2009 Nature).
We have now developed optogenetic control in behaving animals (Ritt et al., 2009 Soc for Neuroscience Abstracts). The vibrissa sensory system—and its ‘barrel’ cortex—is our model. Home. CSBi | Computational and Systems Biology at MIT. McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT | McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT. MIT : Brain and Cognitive Sciences.