Presenter(s): Antonio Munoz
Faculty Mentor(s): Avinash Singh & Matt Smear
Oral Session 4 CQ
Our brains are constantly tracking dynamic sensory information from our environment. Exactly how the brain computes sensory input over time is not fully understood. The mouse olfactory system provides a great model to study stimuli changes over time because mice utilize odor concentration changes for olfactory navigation. It is not understood how mice optimize sensory information for spatial navigation.
One of the mechanisms guiding odor localization involves changes in odor concentration (ΔC). The ability to track odor concentration gradients is critical for vertebrates like the mouse for survival.
Previous work in the Smear lab has revealed a population of neurons in the olfactory bulb that respond to dynamic stimuli changes. The neural activity in this population of neurons was sensitive to concentration changes in odor.
The brain somehow maintains a neural representation of odor across sniffs, and this is the behavior I want to observe. A behavioral representation of these ΔC neurons had previously not been studied before. By investigating ΔC tracking behaviors in mice, my goal is to relate the neural activity we see in this neuronal population with a behavioral representation in mice and increase our understanding of sensory optimization.