“Dynamic sensory representations in auditory cortex” Dr. Hiroyuki Kato

Dr. Hiroyuki Kato

Assistant Project Scientist

University of California, San Diego

Abstract

Animals require the ability to ignore sensory stimuli that have no consequence, yet respond to the same stimuli when they become useful. However, the brain circuits that govern this flexibility in sensory processing are not well understood.

Here, we use two-photon Ca²⁺ imaging in awake mice to explore changes in sound representations in the primary auditory cortex (A1). We observed bidirectional modulations produced by (1) daily passive sound exposure (decreased relevance of the sound) and (2) engagement in sound-guided behavior (increased relevance of the sound). These modulations arise locally in A1 and involve modulations of somatostatin-expressing inhibitory neurons (SOM cells) in the opposite directions. Together, these results demonstrate a previously unknown dynamic nature of sensory processing in the auditory cortex in the adulthood. I propose a model in which SOM cells gate cortical information flow based on the behavioral relevance attached to the stimulus.

Biography

I received my B.S. (2002 Mar) and M.S. (2004 Mar) in Biological Sciences from the University of Tokyo at Dr. Hitoshi Sakano’s lab to learn molecular biology. I received Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Tokyo at Dr. Toshiya Manabe’s lab (2008 Mar) to learn electrophysiology in the hippocampal slices. After two years of post-doctoral work in the Manabe lab, I moved to the University of California San Diego, School of Medicine to join Dr. Jeffry Isaacson’s lab (2010 Sep). Since then I have spent three years as a postdoc, and two years as an assistant project scientist in the Isaacson lab, working on in vivo calcium imaging experiments to study neuronal circuits underlying the sensory processing in the olfactory system, and more recently in the auditory system in mice.