Olfaction and memory

The ability to store and retrieve associations between specific sensory stimuli and behaviorally relevant information is a vital memory function: it allows the organism to adapt its behavior based on prior experience. Olfaction is a central sensory modality in rodents as it supports an array of crucial behaviors such as predator avoidance, feeding, reproduction, maternal behavior and social interactions. Although specific odors can trigger innate responses, most odor stimuli acquire behavioral significance upon learning and experience. The goal of our team is to identify the network mechanisms underlying the formation of olfactory memory traces across distributed brain regions. More generally, we aim at understanding how sensory information is routed and processed in the brain to integrate lasting memories.
To adress these questions, we use a combination of advanced methods that allow monitoring and manipulating in real-time neuronal ensembles in freely moving animals towards a deep mechanistic understanding of brain functions. These methods include chronic multi-site high-density silicon probe recordings (units and local field potentials), 3D behavioral tracking, optogenetic tagging and closed-loop optogenetic manipulations in behaving rodents.

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