Lecture: Thalamocortical control of skilled movement

Freiburg Neuroscience Lecture Series |

"Thalamocortical control of skilled movement"

by Prof Ian Duguid (University of Edinburgh)

Motor thalamus serves as a gateway to the cortex, relaying sensorimotor information from subcortical structures to motor areas of the cerebral cortex. But how coordinated motor control emerges from interactions between cortical and subcortical structures remains unresolved. Here, we developed a cued linear forelimb push task for mice that requires descending cortical output, skilled object manipulation and associative learning. By combining the task with in vivo whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology, GRIN lens-mediated 2-photon population calcium imaging, pathway-specific pharmacological / optogenetic manipulation strategies and 2D kinematic analysis, we describe the causal mechanisms that link motor thalamic population activity with M1 L5B projection neuron dynamics and movement initiation.

Further information: www.neuro.uni-freiburg.de/events

Wednesday, May 22, 2019 | 12:15 PM to 01:15 PM Institute of Biology I | Lecture Hall | First Floor Hauptstraße 1 79104 Freiburg