The Brain Research Institute (“Hifo”) is a neuroscience research center in the medical faculty of the University of Zurich.

The four laboratories on neural circuit dynamics, neural plasticity, neuroepigenetics, and neural regeneration and repair focus on basic research topics ranging from molecular and cellular processes to network functions in the nervous system. The main areas of investigation concern the ability of the central nervous system to learn new information and to regenerate after injury, the mechanisms underlying synaptic transmission, plasticity and synapses formation.

Web Information

Website: hifo.uzh.ch BRAIN Initiative Grant – “Multi-area two-photon microscopy for revealing long-distance communication between multiple local brain circuits”

Contact Information

Email: helmchen@hifo.uzh.ch Phone:+41 44 635 33 01 Address: Brain Research Institute Building 55 University of Zurich Irchel Winterthurerstrasse 190 CH-8057 Zurich

Organization

Co-Directors: Fritjof Helmchen and Isabelle Mansuy Managing Director: Sebastian Jessberger

 About

The Brain Research Institute (Institut für Hirnforschung, short “Hifo”) was founded in 1962 as a neuroscience research center in the medical faculty of the University of Zurich. The four laboratories on neural circuit dynamics, neural plasticity, neuroepigenetics, and neural regeneration and repair focus on basic research topics ranging from molecular and cellular processes to network functions in the nervous system. The main areas of investigation concern the ability of the central nervous system to learn new information and to regenerate after ...

Professor, Departement of Neurophysiology, Zurich Brain Research Institute Director, Laboratory of Neural Circuit Dynamics

Helmchen is characterizing the properties of individual neurons in vivo and investigate how synaptic inputs are integrated in their dendrites to eventually cause action potentials that are transmitted to target neurons. Using in vivo electrophysiology and 2-photon imaging we perform both intracellular recordings from individual neurons as well as optical measurements of population activity. Development of 2-photon microscopy techniques for high-resolution imaging in living and behaving rodents.

Web Information

Webpage:  neuroscience.ethz.ch/research/molecular_cellular/helmchen Zurich Brain Research Institute BRAIN Initiative Grant – “Multi-area two-photon microscopy for revealing long-distance communication between multiple local brain circuits”

Contact Information

Email: helmchen@hifo.uzh.ch Phone: +41 44 635 3340 Address: Winterthurerstrasse 190 8057 Zurich

Research

Main Goals, Keywords

Principles of single-cell and neural network computation in the mammalian neocortex. In vivo analysis of spontaneous, sensory-evoked, and behavior-related neural activity. Neuron-glia relationships. (Synaptic integration, dendrites, excitability, synaptic plasticity, action potentials, population activity, cortical column, microcircuits)

Group Members

1 professor, 1 scientific coordinator, 5 postdocs, 6 PhD students, 4 technicians

Previous and Current Research

The outside-world is represented in the brain by the concerted activity of neuronal ensembles. We are interested how information is encoded and processed in neuronal assemblies within the local microcircuits of the intact neocortex. ...

Principal Investigator: Fritjof Helmchen Zurich Brain Research Institute Title: “Multi-area two-photon microscopy for revealing long-distance communication between multiple local brain circuits” BRAIN Category: Large-Scale Recording-Modulation – Optimization (RFA NS-14-008)

Dr. Helmchen and his colleagues propose a system to simultaneously record neuronal activity in four different areas of the neocortex and discover how brain cells in different regions interact during specific behaviors.

NIH Webpages

Two-photon laser-scanning microscopy has become the method of choice for imaging nerual dynamics on the cellular level in the intact brain. The particular advantage of 2-photon microscopy is its reduced sensitivity to light scattering so that individual cells with their dendrites can be resolved several hundreds of micrometers deep in neural tissue in living animals.

Project Description

Two-photon microscopy is a widely used, key method for functional imaging of cellular activity in living animals. Most recently, in vivo calciu imaging experiments have started to reveal the spatiotemporal activity patterns that occur in various areas of the neocortex during head-fixed mouse behavior. Typically, however, the field-of- view for imaging cellular activity is fairly small, on the order of a few hundred micrometers. This restriction limits the size of neuronal networks that can be studied and thus leaves open ...