Department of Neurobiology

Yadin Dudai, Head

Research in Neuroscience in the Department of Neurobiology encompasses a wide variety of subjects, in areas including cellular and molecular biology, neuroanatomy, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), physiology, pharmacology, psychophysics, and computational sciences.

Basically, the research of the various groups of the Department covers, among others, the following topics:

• Analysis of the molecular and cellular basis of neuronal and synaptic function.
  
  
• Imaging of neuronal activity underlying higher brain functions.
  
  
• Tracing and characterization of neuronal communication profiles.
  
  
• Characterization of the CNS response to trauma and lesion; developing molecular and cellular therapeutic agents.
  
  
• Determination of the underlying processes and mechanisms of vision, perception, learning, and memory in behaving rodents and primates.
  
  
• Computer modeling of brain function.
  

At the Neurobiology Department, the structure, function, development, and plasticity of the nervous system are studied at various levels of analysis, using different types of cell and experimental animal models. The groups studying neuronal function at the molecular and cellular levels use in vitro systems ranging from non-neuronal and neuronal cell lines to primary neuronal and glial cells of cerebellar, hippocampal and cortical origin. In many cases, the cells studied are transfected with genes of interest. These cell systems allow the study of the roles of various components of the nervous system, including cell surface membrane components, specific enzymes, neurotransmitters, neuromodulators, growth factors, neuroreceptors, lipid components, ionic channels and cytoskeletal constituents. Algorithms for the synaptic plasticity between neurons, and the role of dendritic ion channels in synaptic input and information processing, are also being studied. Injury models of nerve lesion and oxidative stress paradigms are applied to examine the principles of CNS regeneration, rescue from ischemia and stroke, and apoptotic cell death and senescence.

The groups studying the CNS at the system level are striving to understand the complex neuronal mechanisms underlying learning, memory, and sensory processing (vision, taste, smell), and to determine the relationship between brain and mind. Using track tracing methods, the rules governing the interconnections in the visual cortex are being unraveled. Behavioral studies focus on principles of learning and consolidation, cortical information processing, learning disabilities, and addiction. Functional brain imaging of the human visual cortex is being studied by various techniques, including fMRI. Psychophysical approaches are being used to define processes involved in image segmentation, learning and memory skill acquisition, motor control, and language. Nearly 20 groups of researchers carry out both independent studies and collaborative research with colleagues from within the Department and outside it.

E. Ahissar

Active sensing: Principles of sensory processing and acquisition by sensory-motor loops.

1.  Encoding, decoding and representations of vibrissal touch in the rat: Electrophysiology, neuropharmacology, behavior, theory.

2.  Modifications of vibrissal processing by learning: Neuronal plasticity, role of acetylcholine, theory.

3.  Encoding, sensory-motor control, and learning in humans: Touch and vision.

4.  Rodent whisking behavior and mechanics

Y. Dudai

The role of saliency-and novelty-detectors in the acquisition and retention of memory in brain.

Mechanisms of memory consolidation, reconsolidation and extinction in the mammalian brain.

Theories of learning and memory.

A. Grinvald

The functional architecture underlying visual perception.
A. Grinvald, D. Omer, L. Rom,

Cortical correlates of attention in behaving monkeys.
A. Grinvald, D. Omer, L. Rom

The space-time dynamics of cortical activity as revealed by population activity (EEG, LFP and real-time optical imaging) coupled with single-unit and intracellular recordings.
A. Grinvald, D. Omer, L. Rom M. Tsodyks

The Interactions between evoked and on-going activity and their potential functional role in cortical processing.
A. Grinvald, D. Omer, M. Tsodyks

The dynamics of cortical representations in the visual cortex.
A. Grinvald, S. Naaman

T. Kimchi

Neuronal Basis of Sexually Dimorphic Behaviors

1.  Sexually dimorphic pheromone signals – perception, processing and biology function

2.  Characterizing novel pheromone-mediated responses in wild-caught mouse colonies

3.  Identifying the genetic basis of sex-typical social and reproductive behaviors

4.  Mapping brain circuits controlling innate social and reproductive behaviors

I. Lampl

Synaptic plasticity inducted by sensory stimulation in the cortex

Construction of receptive field properties in the somatosensory cortex

1.  studying functional connectivity in the barrel cortex

2.  Mechanisms of adaptation in the cortex

Noise and synchrony in the mammalian cortex

1.  Dynamic properties and mechanisms of ongoing activity in the cortex

2.  Patterns in neuronal activity in the cortex

R. Malach

Mapping object-related areas in the human brain.

1.  Gestalt effects in the human brain.

2.  Dynamics of object-selective activation.

3.  Principles of organization of object areas in the human brain.

R. Paz

Neurobiology of learning and memory

Neuronal circuits and interactions between the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex

Generalization and specificity of learning

Extinction of memory

Motivational and emotional modulation of memory

Computational approaches to coding mechanisms in the brain

Psychiatric disorders from pathologies in the amygdala-preftonal pathway (e.g. autism, anxiety-disorders, post-traumatic-stress-disorder (PTSD), epilepsy)

D. Sagi

Human vision, with an emphasis on processes involved in image segmentation, learning, and memory.

M. Schwartz

The cross-talk between the immune and nervous systems – autoimmunity as a mechanism of tissue repair: Molecular, cellular, physiological and behavioral aspects.

Immunological aspects of neuronal loss in neurodegenerative and mental disorders (Alzheimer’s, ALS, Huntingdon, Glaucoma).

Spinal cord injury and repair

Development of vaccination for neurodegenerative disorders.

Neurogenesis (stem cells) and inflammation in the CNS.

M. Segal

Intracellular calcium and structural/functional plasticity in cultured neurons.
M. Segal, Dr. Eduard Korkotian, Professor Michael Frotscher, Prof. Thomas Deller

Hippocampal structure and function during stress.
M. Segal, Dr. Nicola Maggio

Behavior and electrophysiology in transgenic mice.
M. Segal, Dr. Avi Avital

N. Sobel

Olfaction

Functional Imaging

V. Teichberg

Penetration of prion protein into brain via the blood brain barrier
V. Teichberg, Itzik Cooper

Peripheral mechanisms for brain neuroprotection
V. Teichberg, Yael Klin, Alexander Zlotnik and Yoram Shapira

Enzymatic scavenging of blood glutamate in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases
V. Teichberg, Keti-Cohen-Kashi-Melina, Itzik Cooper, Alexander Zlotnik, Yoram Shapira, Angela Ruban, Yael Klin, Moti Boyko

1.  Treatment of acute brain neurodegenerative conditions by activation of a blood glutamate scavenging system

2.  Glutamate transport in an in vitro model of the blood brain barrier

3.  Treatment of malignant gliomas with blood glutamate scavengers

4.  Treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with blood glutamate scavengers

5.  Treatment of nerve gas exposure with blood glutamate scavengers

6.  GABA transport in an in vitro model of the blood brain barrier.

M. Tsodyks

Modeling of cortical neuronal populations: From microcircuits to large scale networks.

Information transmission through dynamic synapses.
M. Tsodyks, H. Markram

Population activity in visual cortex.
M. Tsodyks, A. Grinvald, D. Sagi

N. Ulanovsky

* Neurobiology of learning and memory

* Mammalian hippocampus - hippocampal place cells

* Hippocampal neural activity in freely-behaving echolocating bats

* Towards neurophysiological recordings in freely flying bats, using radio-telemetry

* From the bat's biological sonar system to spatial cognition

* The neural basis of behavior

Z. Vogel

The cannabinoid ligands, their endogenous ligands and signal transduction.
Z. Vogel, Raphael Mechoulam

Regulation of microglial activation by cannabinoids: Possible role in neurodegenrative and neuroinflammatory diseases

Molecular mechanisms of opiate addiction, tolerance and withdrawal.

A. Zangen

Depression and Addiction in the Brain Reward System

1.  Evaluation of neurochemical and electrophysiological alterations in the brain reward system of animal models for addiction and depression.

2.  Behavioral and neurochemical effects of brain stimulation in reward-related brain sites: Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in humans and localized electrical stimulation in animal models.