Physiology and biophysics
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The Mechanisms Underlying Sigh Generation in the PreBötzinger Complex are Dependent on Neuroglial Interactions
Rhythm generation is a vital component of life. Rhythmic activity regulates the circadian clock, which controls hormonal cycles, sleep wake states, blood pressure, body temperature, and reaction times. Rhythmogenesis ... -
Inflammatory pain regulation through TRPV1 ion channel and phosphoinositide signaling
Inflammatory pain is one of the biggest challenges facing contemporary society. The TRPV1 ion channel is a major player in inflammatory pain. During inflammation TRPV1 is regulated by both modulation of gating and changes ... -
The mechanisms and applications of a nucleotide-based heart failure therapy
The naturally-occurring nucleotide 2-deoxy-ATP (dATP) is known to increase the amount of force produced by cardiac muscle when used as a substrate in place of ATP. Cytosolic concentration of dATP can be elevated by expressing ... -
Rapid modulation of dynamics and computation in neural systems
A central goal in theoretical neuroscience is to understand how neural systems perform computations over the continuum of timescales that underlie behavior. In particular, what are the algorithms and mechanisms enabling ... -
Effects of clinically-relevant electrical stimulation of macaque sensorimotor cortex on neural activity and behavior
Electrical stimulation is a popular technique for neuromodulation in research, but the scope of approved therapeutic devices is extremely limited. For conditions where direct stimulation of the cortex may alleviate symptoms, ... -
Quantitative Modeling of Cone Signal Combination in Macaque Primary Visual Cortex
Vision at moderate to high light levels begins with the activity in three types of cone photoreceptors located in back of the retina: long-wavelength-sensitive (L-) cones, medium-wavelength-sensitive (M-) cones, and ... -
Cone photoreceptor heterogeneity in the primate retina
Human vision commences when light is transduced to a neural signal. In daylight, this occurs predominantly within cone photoreceptors. Does this transduction occur identically for all light inputs? The work in this thesis ... -
Spike-timing dependent plasticity and connectivity in primate sensorimotor cortex
Specific connectivity between populations of neurons gives rise to network function. The plasticity of these connections allows for network learning and adaptation. While much work has explored plasticity and underlying ... -
Three lenses into the cardiac dyad: calcium signaling, microtubule trafficking, and junctional sarcoplasmic reticular mobility
The cardiac dyad, the intersection between the sarcoplasmic reticulum and the sarcolemma in cardiac myocytes, is critically important for cellular contraction and function. It is the hub of calcium signaling where ryanodine ... -
Protein kinase C bidirectionally modulates Ih and HCN1 surface expression in hippocampal pyramidal neurons
Hyperpolarization-activated, cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) ion channels attenuate excitability in hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Loss of HCN channel-mediated current (Ih), particularly that mediated by the HCN1 isoform, ... -
GABA-B receptors regulate extrasynaptic GABA-A receptors
Classically, GABAB receptors regulate neurotransmission primarily through presynaptic mechanisms that inhibit neurotransmitter release, and thus inhibit GABAA receptor function. Many studies have shown that postsynaptic ... -
Operant conditioning of cortical cell and muscle response patterns
<bold>Part I:</bold> In primates, corticomotoneuronal (CM) cells have sufficiently strong synaptic linkages to motoneurons to mediate post-spike facilitation in spike-triggered averages of muscle activity. We investigated ... -
The limits imposed in primate vision by transduction in cone photoreceptors
Experientially, our ability to visually perceive the world seems extraordinary, yet we keep asking ourselves: "could perception be better?" This dissertation centers around this question, exploring how the biophysics of ... -
Cortical surface recurrent brain-computer interfaces
(2013-11-14)The output of a "traditional" brain computer-interface (BCI) is the operation of an effector mechanism, like a cursor or a prosthetic arm. In contrast, the output of a recurrent brain-computer interface (rBCI) is electrical ... -
The role of coupled gating of L-type calcium channels in arrhythmogenesis in Timothy syndrome (LQT8)
(2012-09-10)L-type Ca<super>2+</super> (Ca<sub>V</sub>1.2) channels shape the cardiac action potential waveform and are essential for excitation-contraction (EC) coupling in the heart. We find that a transient subpopulation of 2 to ... -
A Reconstituted System for Studying Kinetochore-Microtubule Attachments
(2012-09-10)Before physically dividing into two nascent daughter cells, a cell must first duplicate, organize and segregate its entire genome. During mitosis, chromosomes are aligned along an axis of symmetry and then pulled apart by ... -
A new view of the radial geometry in muscle: myofilament lattice spacing controls force production and energy storage.
(2012-09-10)Muscle is highly organized in both the axial direction and the radial direction, or the direction of contraction and the direction orthogonal to it. As muscle generates force, it does so in both the axial and radial ... -
The Interaction of Lingo-1 and Amyloid Precursor Protein
(2012-09-10)Proteolytic cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) generates the amyloid β peptide (Aβ), the main component of cortical and subcortical plaques in Alzheimer's disease (AD). APP can be processed at the cell surface or ... -
Metabotropic pathways involved in the generation of an afterdepolarization in layer V pyramidal neurons
(2000)A previous study from our laboratory found that evoked spikes were followed by a long lasting afterdepolarization (ADP) in neocortical pyramidal neurons when metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) agonists were present ... -
New stimulators and a new mechanism of regulated secretion in pituitary gonadotropes
(1997)The major regulator of gonadotropin (luteinizing hormone, LH; and follicle-stimulating hormone, FSH) secretion is the peptide gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). It acts via a rise in intracellular Ca$\sp{2+}$ concentration ...