Simons Center for the Social Brain

SCSB Colloquium Series: Julia Kaltschmidt, Ph.D.
2022-05-18 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Julia Kaltschmidt, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Associate Professor of Neurosurgery; Stanford Neurosciences Institute Faculty Scholar; Firmenich Next Generation Faculty Scholar
Host: Dr. Polina Anikeeva
Talk title: Mapping the “second brain”: development and organization of the enteric nervous system
Abstract: The enteric nervous system (ENS) populates the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and controls GI function. In contrast to the central nervous system, macrostructure of the ENS has been largely overlooked. Here, we visually and computationally demonstrate that the ENS is organized in circumferential stripes that regionally differ in development and neuronal composition. This characterization provides a blueprint for future understanding of region-specific GI function and identifying ENS structural correlates of GI disorders.

SCSB Colloquium Series: Linda Richards, Ph.D.
2022-05-11 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Queensland Brain Institute, Brisbane on June 28, 2020. PHOTO / PATRICK HAMILTON
Date: May 11, 2022
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Linda J. Richards, AO, FAA, FAHMS, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Edison Professor and Chair, Department of Neuroscience; Director, McDonnell Center for Cellular & Molecular Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine
Host: Dr. Mriganka Sur
Talk title: Etiology and impact of Corpus Callosum Dysgenesis
Abstract: The corpus callosum is the largest fiber tract in the brain and connects the two cerebral hemispheres in placental mammals. Corpus Callosum Dysgenesis (CCD) in humans occurs in around 1:4000 live births either in isolation or as part of more complex congenital syndromes. People with CCD often display a core cognitive syndrome which includes slowed cognitive processing, restricted processing of complex and novel tasks and limited interhemispheric transfer of sensory-motor information (Brown and Paul 2019). In this seminar I will discuss the underlying etiology of CCD and how glial populations, regulated by specific molecular pathways, are critical for remodeling the midline, providing a crucial substrate for the growth of callosal axons. Callosal axons that would otherwise have crossed the midline instead form ectopic ipsilateral projections known as Probst bundles. CCD causes rewiring of the remaining axonal pathways in the brain demonstrating that the brain is capable of a remarkable degree of long-range axonal plasticity. In addition to the molecular regulation of CCD, we hypothesize that activity-dependent mechanisms are also important for interhemispheric connectivity. To study these early mechanisms, we have established a new laboratory animal model, the fat-tailed dunnart, a small mouse-sized marsupial. Dunnart young develop in the pouch and are born at the equivalent of a 7-week gestation human or embryonic day 10 mouse, allowing us to study early brain development in vivo at stages equivalent to in utero stages in rodents and humans. I will discuss our latest results using this animal model and evidence of evolutionarily conserved patterns of activity in the developing brain.

SCSB Lunch Series: Emily Hueske, Ph.D.
2022-05-06 12:00 - 13:00 | MA
Date: Friday, May 6, 2022
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Zoom meeting – https://mit.zoom.us/j/94097435062
Speaker: Emily Hueske, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Research Scientist, Graybiel Laboratory, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT
Talk title: Striosomal circuits underlying repetitive behaviors in ASD model
Abstract: Repetitive or stereotyped behaviors are a cardinal feature of autism spectrum disorder. The Graybiel lab is focused on trying to identify particular circuits in the cortico-striatal-dopaminergic system that might account for the anxiety and stereotypic behaviors exhibited by many individuals on the autism spectrum, with special focus on the striosomal compartment of striatum that directly innervates dopaminergic midbrain neurons. Our previous work demonstrated that the degree of stereotypic behaviors in rats, mice and squirrel monkeys correlates with striosomal predominant expression of cfos. We find evidence of the same in marmoset. We recently published a chemogenetic approach to modulating striosomal or matrix circuit activity, and we are testing the effects of striosomal inhibition in Shank3B KO mice using DeepLabCut- and B-SOID-based pose estimation. Shank3B KO mice show elevated stereotypic behaviors, and we are finding that chemogenetic inhibition of striosomal populations reduces these elevated stereotypies. In order to establish a translational approach to manipulating striosomes, we are capitalizing on our findings from recent snRNA-seq analyses to identify enhancer regions likely to allow targeting of expression to striosomal populations in mouse and marmoset without use of recombinase-based methods. This work would allow chemogenetic modulation of striosomal populations in marmoset models just as we have performed in Shank3B knockout mice.

SCSB Lunch Series: Chenjie Shen, Ph.D.
2022-04-22 12:00 - 13:00 | MA
Date: Friday, April 22, 2022
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Zoom meeting – https://mit.zoom.us/j/97743148391
Speaker: Chenjie Shen, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Simons Fellow, Guoping Feng Laboratory, McGovern Institute, MIT
Talk title: From Disease Modeling to Next-Generation Gene Therapy
Abstract: Heterozygous mutations in the X-linked MeCP2 gene cause the profound neurological disorder Rett syndrome (RTT). Currently, there are no FDA-approved medicines for RTT. The traditional RTT gene therapy approach based on gene replacement faces two key challenges in preclinical development: First, MeCP2 is dosage-sensitive, and its overexpression causes MeCP2 duplication syndrome. Therefore, the level of MeCP2 in each cell must be maintained within physiological limits. In addition, due to X chromosome inactivation, gene therapy in RTT females has to accommodate the fact that approximately 50% of cells are already expressing wild-type MeCP2. Our research focuses on developing the next-generation gene therapy approaches including RNA and DNA base editing to restore MeCP2 function under its endogenous regulation. Besides, we develop a high efficacy of genome editing method for generating the MeCP2 knock-in marmoset model that is promising for both mechanistic and translational studies.

SCSB Colloquium Series: Liuba Papeo, Ph.D.
2022-04-13 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Liuba Papeo, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Principal Investigator of THEMPO, Institut des Sciences Cognitives “Marc Jeannerod”, UMR5229, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (France)
Host: Dr. Ev Fedorenko
Talk title: Relation perception and the social function of vision
Abstract: Vision supports important aspects of social life. First, highly specialized visual mechanisms have evolved to process faces and bodies, conspecifics and other animals. But social life is made up of social entities as much as the relationships between these entities. The core social content is in fact relational. In a series of behavioral and neuroimaging studies, we show that perception is specialized for seeing socially relevant relationships. The results illustrate how the representation of social interaction emerges from object perception, through the analysis of the spatial relationships between multiple faces and bodies in visual scenes. Thus, visual perceptual mechanisms – and a network of visual brain areas – can give rise to the first rudimentary representation of social interaction based on the mere physical structure of input, before inferential processes kick in.
Bio
I am cognitive neuroscientist with a PhD in Neuroscience (International School for Advanced Studies, SISSA, Trieste, Italy). My PhD thesis addressed the role of sensory-motor processes in word understanding, using the study of lesions and behavior in brain-damaged patients, non-invasive brain stimulation (TMS) and functional neuroimaging (fMRI). The thesis received two prizes, from the Italian Association of Psychology and from SISSA (2011).
In 2011, I was awarded two European grants, a “Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship”, and a “Talents for an International House Fellowship Program”. I pursued the former, which funded three years of postdoc at the Department of Psychology of Harvard University. Here, in collaboration with Prof. Alfonso Caramazza and Alvaro Pascual-Leone, I studied the network dynamics supporting language and concepts. In 2014, I obtained a fellowship from the UPFellows Cofund Program of the University Pompeu Fabra of Barcelona and the European Research Council, for a three-years research program on the cognitive and neural mechanisms for action understanding, carried out at the University Pompeu Fabra of Barcelona.
I was recruited by the CNRS and joined the Institut des Sciences Cognitives “Marc Jeannerod” in 2016. In 2017, I obtained a European Research Council Starting grant and a Grant “Jeunes Chercheuses et Jeunes Chercheurs” of the french Agence Nationale de la Recherche. At the CNRS, I have developed a research program on the representation of relations, and established the research team “Cognitive neurodevelopment”, which today includes eight members between PhD students, postdocs and a research assistant. In 2019, our team was selected to join the new Laboratoire d’Excellence (LabEX) CORTEX of the University of Lyon. In December 2020, I received a Fyssen Foundation Research Grant for a project of categorization and word learning in full-term and preterm infants. In 2021, I was promoted to Directrice de Recherche (Full professore) at the CNRS.
As a researcher, I am committed to contributing to scientific advancements as well as to using my role and position to increase equality and inclusion. The latter goal is as important to me as the former.

SCSB Colloquium Series: Pamela Feliciano, Ph.D.
2022-03-30 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Wednesday, March 30, 2022
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Pamela Feliciano, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Scientific Director, SPARK (SPARKforAutism.org); Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI)
Host: Dr. Pawan Sinha
Talk title: SPARK: Gene discovery and return of genetic results in over 22,000 people with autism
Abstract: We have created a large longitudinal research cohort, SPARK (SPARKForAutism.org) to advance research on the genetic, behavioral, and clinical features associated with ASD. SPARK represents the largest ASD cohort in the world, with over 100,000 individuals with ASD enrolled. Despite the known heritable nature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), studies have primarily identified risk genes with de novo variants (DNVs). To capture the full spectrum of ASD genetic risk, we performed a two-stage analysis of rare de novo and inherited coding variants in 42,607 ASD cases, including 35,130 new cases recruited online by SPARK. We identified 60 genes with exome-wide significance (p < 2.5e-6), including five new risk genes (NAV3, ITSN1, MARK2, SCAF1, and HNRNPUL2). The association of NAV3 with ASD risk is entirely driven by rare inherited LoFs variants, with an average relative risk of 4, consistent with moderate effect. ASD individuals with LoF variants in the four moderate risk genes (NAV3, ITSN1, SCAF1, and HNRNPUL2, n = 95) have less cognitive impairment compared to 129 ASD individuals with LoF variants in well-established, highly penetrant ASD risk genes (CHD8, SCN2A, ADNP, FOXP1, SHANK3) (59% vs. 88%, p= 1.9e-06). In this study, we identified rare LoF variants in new ASD risk genes with modest effect size that are not strongly associated with ID. This finding represents a difference in phenotypic association with ID compared with other well-established, highly penetrant ASD genes. Another tenet of SPARK is to form a partnership with participants and return research results to them. SPARK identified 1,711 (7.7%) ACMG likely pathogenic (LP) and pathogenic (P) variants in 22,166 people with ASD from a pre-defined list of high-confidence ASD risk genes and CNVs. The returnable genetic results were extremely heterogeneous and included variants in 231 genes, 133 CNVs and microdeletions ranging in size from 7.7 kb to 28 Mb and 5 chromosomal aneuploidies. The number of returnable results has changed over the course of the study as new risk genes for ASD and neurodevelopmental conditions have been identified: 37 percent of variants (632 variants in 177 genes) that currently meet LP/P ACMG criteria were previously variants of uncertain significance (VUS) at the start of the study in 2015. Reconsenting and retaining those participants and assessing how to include them in return of results for this large cohort has challenges, and methods SPARK has developed may be applicable to other large genomic cohorts.

SCSB Lunch Series: Michael Segel, Ph.D.
2022-03-18 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Friday, March 18, 2022
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Zoom meeting – https://mit.zoom.us/j/94985166036
Speaker: Michael Segel, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Simons Fellow, Feng Zhang Laboratory, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Talk title: Harnessing endogenous retroelements for gene therapy
Abstract: Advances in genome engineering have enabled high precision manipulation of genetic information in cells. Despite this, the challenge of delivering gene therapies to correct or reverse disease-causing mutations remains a significant barrier for medicine. Our research focuses on developing new strategies for gene therapy. An ideal gene delivery system would be non-immunogenic and capable of delivering a range of genetic cargo to a range of cell types and tissues. To identify such a system, we have focused on identifying endogenous mechanisms of gene transfer—systems by which one cell communicates to another using genetic information. With these search parameters, we have identified a panel of mammalian proteins that are abundant in the adult human, detectable in adult blood plasma, and are capable of mediating functional gene transfer. Ultimately, we hope to leverage these proteins to deliver gene therapies to treat human disease.

SCSB Colloquium Series: Afonso C. Silva, Ph.D.
2022-02-16 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Afonso C. Silva, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Endowed Chair Professor of Translational Neuroimaging, Neurobiology, Department of Neurobiology, Center for Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute
Host: Dr. Robert Desimone and Dr. Mriganka Sur
Talk title: The Marmoset Brain Mapping and Marmoset Brain Connectome Projects: Understanding the Anatomical and Functional Organization of the Primate Brain
Abstract: The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), a small non-human primate species endogenous to Brazil, has rapidly emerged as a promising animal model for biomedical and neuroscience research. The lissencephalic marmoset brain retains the stereotypical anatomical and functional organization of the primate brain, offering new opportunities to map neural circuits and functional connectome systemically and comprehensively. Developing appropriate analytical tools to study the marmoset brain anatomy and function in great detail is an essential enabling step to promote neuroimaging and connectome studies of marmosets. The Marmoset Brain Mapping project (https://marmosetbrainmapping.org) is a multi-atlas set of brain templates with labeled anatomical structures and highly accurate tissue-type segmentation maps that facilitate volumetric studies. The three main versions of the atlas (V1: Cortical Map; V2: White-Matter Pathways; V3: Population-Based Atlases) contain fully featured brain surfaces and cortical flat maps to facilitate 3D visualization and surface-based analyses, which are compatible with most surface analyzing tools, including FreeSurfer, AFNI/SUMA, and the Connectome Workbench. The anatomical Marmoset Brain Mapping Project includes multi-modal MRI and CT data of 27 marmosets, featuring the most comprehensive image modalities, accurate (manually corrected) tissue segmentation maps, multi-atlas labeled template space and fully featured brain surface and flat maps for surface-based analysis. To complement the Marmoset Brain Mapping Project, we also developed the Marmoset Brain Connectome Project (https://marmosetbrainconnectome.org) consisting of over 70 hours of resting-state fMRI (RS-fMRI) data acquired at 500 µm isotropic resolution from 31 fully awake marmosets in a common stereotactic space. Three-dimensional functional connectivity (FC) maps for every cortical and subcortical gray matter voxel are stored in an online repository. Users can instantaneously view, manipulate, and download any whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) topology along with the raw datasets and preprocessing code. We expect that this resource will be of broad value, supporting novel hypotheses about the functional organization of the marmoset brain.

References:

Silva AC. Anatomical and functional neuroimaging in awake, behaving marmosets. Dev. Neurobiol. 2017 Mar;77(3):373-389.
Liu C, Ye FQ, Yen CC, Newman JD, Glen D, Leopold DA, Silva AC. A digital 3D atlas of the marmoset brain based on multi-modal MRI. Neuroimage 2017 Dec 5;169:106-116.
Yen CC, Papoti D, Silva AC. Investigating the spatiotemporal characteristics of the deoxyhemoglobin-related and deoxyhemoglobin-unrelated functional hemodynamic response across cortical layers in awake marmosets. Neuroimage 2018 Jan 1;164:121-130.
Hirano Y, Yen CC, Liu JV, Mackel JB, Merkle H, Nascimento GC, Stefanovic B, Silva AC. Investigation of the BOLD and CBV fMRI responses to somatosensory stimulation in awake marmosets (Callithrix jacchus). NMR Biomed 2018 Mar;31(3). doi: 10.1002/nbm.3864. Epub 2017 Dec 29.
Liu C, Yen CC, Szczupak D, Ye FQ, Leopold DA, Silva AC. Anatomical and functional investigation of the marmoset default mode network. Nat Commun. 2019 Apr 29;10(1):1975. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-09813-7.
Liu C, Ye FQ, Newman JD, Szczupak D, Tian X, Yen CCC, Majka P, Glen D, Rosa MGP, Leopold DA, Silva AC. A resource for detailed 3D mapping of white matter pathways in the marmoset brain. Nature Neurosci. 2020 Jan 13. doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0575-0.
Majka P, Bednareka S, Chan JM, Jermakowa N, Liu C, Saworska G, Worthy K, Silva AC, Wójcik D, Rosa MGP. Histology-based average template of the marmoset cortex with probabilistic localization of cytoarchitectural areas. Neuroimage 2020 Dec 8:117625. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117625.
Liu C, Yen CCC, Szczupak D, Tian X, Glen D, Silva AC. Marmoset brain mapping v3: population multi-modal standard volumetric and surface-based templates. Neuroimage 2020 Dec 8:117620. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117620.
Szczupak D, Yen CCC, Liu C, Tian X, IRC5 Consortium, Lent R, Tovar-Moll FF, Silva AC. Dynamic Interhemispheric Desynchronization in Marmosets and Humans with Disorders of the Corpus Callosum. Frontiers Neural Circuits. 2020 Dec 8:612595. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2020.612595.
Schaeffer DJ, Liu C, Silva AC, Everling S. Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Marmoset Monkeys. ILAR J. 2021 Feb 26:ilaa029. doi: 10.1093/ilar/ilaa029.
Tian X, Silva AC, Liu C. The Brain Circuits and Dynamics of Curiosity-Driven Behavior in Naturally Curious Marmosets. Cereb Cortex 2021 Apr 12:bhab080. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhab080.

SCSB Lunch Series: Alex Major, Ph.D.
2022-02-11 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Friday, February 11, 2022
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Zoom meeting – https://mit.zoom.us/j/95876605075
Speaker: Alex Major, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Simons Postdoctoral Fellow, Earl Miller Laboratory, Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, MIT
Host: Dr. Earl Miller
Talk title: Probing the cortical circuits that prevent sensory overload
Abstract: Sensory overload in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may result from disrupted filtering of predicted sensory inputs. Our Predictive Coding model of brain function suggests sensory information is carried by gamma rhythms in the upper layers of the cortex. In contrast, alpha/beta rhythms are in deep layers and may suppress gamma rhythms of predicted sensory input. We hypothesize feedback prediction signals in ASD are deficient, manifesting as reduced alpha/beta rhythms. This causes less suppression of incoming sensory input and gamma, leading to sensory overload. We have developed a technique to simulate sensory overload in rhesus monkeys by suppressing deep layers of prefrontal cortex. This is hypothesized to decrease feedback alpha/beta activity and thus disinhibit gamma activity and sensory input. This will directly test a mechanism of sensory overload, perhaps leading research towards improved symptom management.

SCSB Colloquium Series: Nirao Shah, Ph.D.
2021-12-08 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Nirao Shah, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University
Host: Dr. Steven Flavell
Talk title: Molecular and neural circuit control of sexually dimorphic behaviors
Abstract: Our long-term goal is to define the molecular and neural networks that regulate sexually differentiated physiology and behavior. The behaviors we focus on are social interactions such as mating, territorial aggression, and maternal displays. In most vertebrates, sex hormones exert a profound influence on the development and function of neural circuits underlying these behaviors. Previous work has identified several sex hormone-responsive neuronal populations that regulate sexually dimorphic social behaviors. Strikingly, individual, well circumscribed sex hormone-responsive neuronal populations govern multiple distinct behaviors. I will discuss recent findings from our work that provide insight into how such functional diversification is implemented.

SCSB Lunch Series: Shaoyu Lin, Ph.D.
2021-12-03 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Friday, December 3, 2021
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Zoom meeting – Registration Required
Register in advance for this talk: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the talk.
Speaker: Shaoyu Lin, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Simons Fellow, Kwanghun Chung Laboratory, Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Institute of Medical Engineering and Science, MIT
Host: Dr. Kwanghun Chung
Talk title: Impact of cellular metabolism on corticogenesis – an observation from human cortical organoid culture
Abstract: 3D-cultured human stem cell-derived cortical organoids can mimic broad features of developing human cortex. However, even with the best protocol developed so far, many fundamental aspects of human corticogenesis have not been fully recapitulated in organoid culture yet. This has been partially due to aberrantly accelerated radial glia differentiation in an overall non-ideal in vitro environment. Here, our preliminary study has shown, after being cultured in hypothermal conditions to slow down metabolism, that the cortical organoids can grow with significantly enlarged size and more importantly, a remarkably increased neuronal production, particularly the upper-layer cortical neurons, which led to improved cortical lamination. Such phenotype can be attributed to an enlarged proliferating progenitor pool and a prolonged neurogenic time window. Our study revealed an unexpected relationship between cellular metabolism and corticogenesis, and strongly suggests that metabolic manipulation holds great promise as a more “universal” strategy to modulate neurodevelopment.

SCSB Lunch Series: Alan Jasanoff, Ph.D.
2021-11-19 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Friday, November 19, 2021
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Zoom meeting – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Alan Jasanoff, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Professor, Biological Engineering, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Nuclear Science and Engineering; Associate Investigator, McGovern Institute; Director, Center for Neurobiological Engineering
Talk title: Understanding functional connectivity in the mammalian brain
Abstract: The correlational structure of brain activity dynamics, known as functional connectivity, is often taken to reveal intrinsic properties of neural processing. Functional connectivity measures observed during spontaneous activity are candidate biomarkers for neurodevelopmental disorders including autism, but the physiological bases of these measures are poorly understood. In the first part of my talk, I will discuss evidence that resting state functional connectivity of the mammalian brain derives in part from interactions with extrinsic sense organs. Central or peripheral inactivation of vibrissa-mediated input in awake rats strongly diminishes somatosensory functional connectivity, even when no overt stimuli are present. The same neural activity correlations are sharply reduced in a rat model of fragile X syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. Fragile X rats are also insensitive to vibrissa inactivation, suggesting that part of the neuroimaging phenotype in this autism model arises from abnormalities in the peripheral sensory channel. In the second part of my talk, I will discuss an experimental tool our laboratory has developed to place functional connectivity findings on a physiological basis. In combination with tract-tracing viruses, a genetically encoded activity probe called NOSTIC provides a means for defining input-output relationships across the brain. We demonstrate this capability for mapping circuit function in rats and plan to use it for analysis of social stimulus processing in nonhuman primates.

SCSB Colloquium Series - Lauren Weiss, Ph.D.
2021-11-10 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Lauren Weiss, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco
Host: Dr. Mriganka Sur
Talk title: Minding our P’s and Q’s: Questions in human genetics about a CNV region and brain-based traits
Abstract: Deletions and duplications of the multigenic 16p11.2 and 22q11.2 copy number variant (CNV) regions are associated with brain-based disorders including schizophrenia, intellectual disability, obesity, bipolar disorder, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Hypothesizing that DNA copy number exerts most effects via impacts on RNA expression, we attempted a novel in silico fine-mapping approach utilizing non-CNV carriers as well as gene expression, GWAS, and biobank data to begin answering some big genetic Qs. Positional cloning: which individual genes in the region contribute to CNV-associated phenotypes? Pleiotropy: is the same CNV gene responsible for association with multiple brain-based traits? Penetrance/Expressivity: are these CNV genes contributing to other unrecognized health implications for carriers? subtler related phenotypes in non-carriers? Polygenicity/Epistasis: do multiple genes in a region contribute to the same trait? Prediction/Prevention/Pharmaceuticals: can insight from these investigations give us more information on both CNV and ‘idiopathic’ trait genetics for future personalized medical approaches?

SCSB Colloquium Series - Constance Smith-Hicks, M.D., Ph.D.
2021-10-27 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Constance Smith-Hicks, M.D., Ph.D.
Affiliation: Director SYNGAP1 Center of Excellence, Director Rett Syndrome Program, Kennedy Krieger Institute; Assistant Professor of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University.
Host: Dr. Mriganka Sur
Talk title: Genes and social behavior – what can we learn from monogenic disorders
Abstract: Social behavior develops at the intersection of genetics, environment, and culture. Divergent social behaviors have been reported in both polygenic and monogenic neurodevelopmental disorders, with genes influencing behavior by their effect on brain development and function during sensitive periods. Using recent data from our work in SYNGAP1, I’ll put forth a framework for understanding the interplay between sensory processing and social and maladaptive behaviors.

SCSB Lunch Series: John Gabrieli, Ph.D.
2021-10-15 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Friday, October 15, 2021
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Zoom meeting – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: John Gabrieli, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Grover Hermann Professor, Health Sciences and Technology; Professor, Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Investigator, McGovern Institute; Director, Athinoula A. Martinos Imaging Center; Director, MIT Integrated Learning Initiative; Core Faculty, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science
Talk title: Enhanced Rationality in Autism Spectrum Disorder
Abstract: Challenges in social cognition and communication are core characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but in some domains, individuals with ASD may display typical abilities and even outperform their neurotypical counterparts. These enhanced abilities are notable in the domains of reasoning, judgment and decision-making, in which individuals with ASD often show ‘enhanced rationality’ by exhibiting more rational and bias-free decision-making than do neurotypical individuals. We review evidence for enhanced rationality in ASD, how it relates to theoretical frameworks of information processing in ASD, its implications for basic research about human irrationality, and what it may mean for the ASD community.

SCSB Colloquium Series - Barbara Landau, Ph.D.
2021-10-06 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Wednesday, October 6, 2021
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Barbara Landau, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Dick and Lydia Todd Professor, Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University
Host: Dr. Frederik Kamps
Talk title: Timing matters: Genes, brains, and cognition in Williams syndrome
Abstract: One of the holy grails for developmental cognitive neuroscience is to understand the complex causal chain from gene to mind throughout development. At present, we are far from understanding this chain in detail. In this talk, I will argue that developmental timing can serve as a unifying mechanism to explain atypical cognitive profiles resulting from genetic impairment along with their relationship to typical developmental profiles. To illustrate, I will use the case of Williams syndrome—a genetic syndrome that gives rise to an unusual profile of severely impaired spatial representation together with spared language. A first-pass hypothesis about the cognitive phenotype emphasized the apparent dissociation of these two cognitive systems, suggesting that the genetic deficit targets one system while leaving the other intact. However, detailed studies of spatial representation and language in people with Williams syndrome, along with comparative studies of typically developing children, reveal a very different picture– one which suggests a mechanistic explanation using the lens of developmental timing. This picture radically changes the conversation about how and why genetic deficits result in atypical cognitive profiles.

SCSB Lunch Series: Sophie Bridgers, Ph.D.
2021-09-24 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Friday, September 24, 2021
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Sophie Bridgers, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Simons Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT BCS Early Childhood Cognition Lab (PI: Laura Schulz) and Harvard Computation, Cognition, and Development Lab (PI: Tomer Ullman)

Talk title: Loopholes, a Window into Value Alignment and the Learning of Meaning
Abstract: Finding and exploiting loopholes, a possible but unintended interpretation of a rule or request, is a familiar facet of fable, law, and everyday life. A child may respond to their parent who says “It’s time to the put the tablet down” by continuing to play with the tablet after physically putting it down on the floor. Engaging with loopholes requires a nuanced understanding of goals, social ambiguity, and value alignment and offers a new lens through which to examine human communication and cooperation. But cognitive, computational, and empirical work on this behavior remains scarce. I will present findings from a parent survey that establishes the ecological validity of loophole behavior in childhood and from two experiments showing that both adults and young children (4 to 10 years) consider exploiting a loophole as less costly than outright noncompliance. I will conclude with a discussion of the development of loophole behavior in neurotypical and ASD populations, and a proposal for a formal framework of goal communication that supports such intentional misunderstandings. This work has implications for improving communication among humans, across developmental and neurodiverse populations, as well as for safer human-AI interactions.​

SCSB Colloquium Series - Joshua Hartshorne, Ph.D.
2021-09-15 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Wednesday, September 15, 2021
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Joshua Hartshorne, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Boston College
Host: Dr. Ev Fedorenko, Dr. Frederik Kamps
Talk title: The role of social cognition in … social cognition
Abstract: There is broad agreement that humans are equipped with domain-specific social reasoning abilities — abilities that vary independent of general intelligence. There is similarly broad agreement that these abilities play a key role in language understanding, particularly with respect to pragmatics. The evidence for the first proposal is largely anecdotal; the evidence for the latter, mostly theoretical. In both cases, the empirical evidence is remarkably thin. I describe a decade of (so far unpublished!) studies testing the two propositions. On the surface, the evidence thus far is mixed with respect to the first proposal and decidedly against the second. I argue that this suggests a rethinking of the role social reasoning plays in real-time behavior.

Recently published work:
* Chen, T., & Hartshorne, J. K. (2021). More evidence from over 1.1 million subjects that the critical period for syntax closes in late adolescence. Cognition, 214, 104706.
* Hartshorne, Joshua K. (2020). How massive online experiments (MOEs) can illuminate critical and sensitive periods in development. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences.
* Hartshorne, J. K., Huang, Y. T., Lucio Paredes, P. M., Oppenheimer, K., Robbins, P. T., & Velasco, M. D. (2021). Screen time as an index of family distress. Current Research in Behavioral Sciences, 2, 100023.

SCSB Colloquium Series - Claudia Bagni, Ph.D.
2021-05-26 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Claudia Bagni, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Professor and Director, Department of Fundamental Neurosciences, University of Lausanne (Switzerland) & University of Rome “Tor Vergata” (Italy)
Host: Dr. Elly Nedivi
Talk title: (Dys)Regulation of the Social Brain
Abstract: “During my talk I will discuss some of the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of motor skills and social behavior and how mitochondria metabolism shapes the social brain”.

SCSB Lunch Series: Haoran Xu, Ph.D.
2021-05-14 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Friday, May 14, 2021
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Haoran Xu, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Postdoctoral Associate, Desimone Laboratory, McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
Talk title: Mapping the social brain in marmosets
Abstract: Humans can understand social scenes in one glance. Abilities such as these are thought to rely on a network of brain regions often referred to as the social brain. People with autism spectrum disorders typically have deficits in some aspects of social cognition, but there are disagreements over which brain regions are responsible. We are therefore studying social cognition in the marmoset, which is a new world monkey that is highly social. Here at MIT, several groups are preparing to study ASD in marmoset genetic models, including a model for Phelan–McDermid syndrome (shank3) created by Guoping Feng and his lab. In the meantime, we have begun work on social cognition in wild type marmosets, with the first goal to “map” the regions of cortex important for social perception and cognition. We showed images and videos of various types with marmoset faces and/or marmosets engaged in several forms of social behavior, together with matched control images and videos. We mapped brain regions responsive to the visual stimuli with micro electrocorticogram (ECoG) recordings over the posterior and middle temporal cortex and ventral prefrontal cortex in animals seated in a primate chair with head fixed and gaze monitored. Stimulus selectivity was evident in the “high gamma” range thought to be correlated with multiunit firing rates. Although the analyses are still in progress, we have localized some face/body/object patches, which appear to be in similar locations to areas mapped with fMRI scanning. We also identified patches that appear to be selective for social interactions. Timing data suggests a posterior to anterior sequence of activation. Moreover, we also recorded with the same ECoGs but with untethered, wireless, recordings in the same animal, during social behaviors in the home cage. With these recordings, we hope to compare patterns of activation during the perception of social stimuli with patterns activated during performance of social behaviors. With collaborations with other labs, we hope to understand how social scenes are processed and perceived in the social brain, and how the brain in ASD differs from the neurotypical brain.

SCSB Lunch Series: Pawan Sinha, Ph.D.
2021-04-23 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Friday, April 23, 2021
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Pawan Sinha, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Professor of Vision and Computational Neuroscience, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT
Talk title: Prediction in Autism
Abstract: The hypothesis that autism may be associated with atypical predictive processes has served as an organizing theme for several empirical investigations in our and other laboratories. The appeal of this hypothesis derives from its potential as a unifying account for multiple, seemingly distinct, aspects of the autism phenotype. In this talk, I shall provide a brief motivation for this theoretical stance, review findings from the field at large that address it, and describe ongoing work within our and our collaborators’ labs designed to test it in multiple settings. The results thus far are mixed, with some supporting and other contradicting the hypothesis. This landscape of findings will, we hope, help guide refinements and revisions of whether and how prediction is affected in autism.
Click here to view the recording of the talk

SCSB Colloquium Series – Kafui Dzirasa, M.D., Ph.D.
2021-04-14 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Kafui Dzirasa, M.D., Ph.D.
Affiliation: K. Ranga Rama Krishnan Endowed Associate Professor, Duke University Medical Center
Host: Dr. Mriganka Sur
Talk title: Mapping Emotions: Discovering structure in mesoscale electrical brain recordings
Abstract: Many cortical and subcortical regions contribute to complex social behavior; nevertheless, the brain architecture whereby the brain integrates this information to encode rewarding socioemotional behavior remains unknown. Here we measure electrical activity from eight brain regions as mice engage in a social preference assay. We then use machine learning to discover an explainable brain network that encodes the extent to which mice choose to engage another mouse. This socioemotional network is organized by theta oscillations leading from prelimbic cortex and amygdala that converge on ventral tegmental area, and network activity is synchronized with brain-wide cellular firing. The network generalizes, on a mouse-by-mouse basis, to encode socioemotional behaviors in healthy animals, but fails to encode an appetitive socioemotional state in clinically relevant animal models of social dysfunction. Thus, our findings reveal the architecture whereby the brain integrates spatially distributed activity across timescales to encode an appetitive socioemotional brain state in health and disease.
Click here to view the recording of the talk
Biography:
Kafui Dzirasa completed a PhD in Neurobiology at Duke University. His research interests focus on understanding how changes in the brain produce neurological and mental illness, and his graduate work has led to several distinctions including: the Somjen Award for Most Outstanding Dissertation Thesis, the Ruth K. Broad Biomedical Research Fellowship, the UNCF·Merck Graduate Science Research Fellowship, and the Wakeman Fellowship. Kafui obtained an MD from the Duke University School of Medicine in 2009, and he completed residency training in General Psychiatry in 2016.
Kafui received the Charles Johnson Leadership Award in 2007, and he was recognized as one of Ebony magazine’s 30 Young Leaders of the Future in February 2008. He has also been awarded the International Mental Health Research Organization Rising Star Award, the Sydney Baer Prize for Schizophrenia Research, and his laboratory was featured on CBS 60 Minutes in 2011. In 2016, he was awarded the inaugural Duke Medical Alumni Emerging Leader Award and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers: The Nation’s highest award for scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. In 2017, he was recognized as 40 under 40 in Health by the National Minority Quality Forum, and the Engineering Alumni of the Year from UMBC. He was induced into the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2019.
Kafui has served as an Associate Scientific Advisor for the journal Science Translational Medicine, a member of the Congressional-mandated Next Generation Research Initiative, the Editorial Advisory Board for TEDMED, and on the NIH Director’s guiding committee for the BRAIN Initiative. He currently serves on the NIH Director’s NExTRAC Advisory committee and Brain Initiative Multi-council working group.
Kafui is an Associate Professor at Duke University with appointments in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Neurobiology, Biomedical Engineering, and Neurosurgery. His ultimate goal is to combine his research, medical training, and community experience to improve outcomes for diverse communities suffering from Neurological and Psychiatric illness.

SCSB Lunch Series: Dr. Xuyu Qian
2021-03-26 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Friday, March 26, 2021
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Xuyu Qian, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Simons Postdoctoral Fellow, Christopher Walsh Laboratory, Harvard University
Talk title: Modeling Neurodevelopmental Disorders Using Human iPSC-derived Brain Organoids
Abstract: The human brain has evolved to have a variety of unique traits that distinguish it from other mammalian brains. Increasing evidence suggested these human-specific features may underlie neurodevelopmental disorders that have been challenging to study in animal models. While the developing human brain is inaccessible for direct experimentation, brain organoids generated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) emerge as a promising in vitro alternative. Previously, we have developed methodologies to reproducibly generate forebrain organoids that dynamically recapitulate the developmental trajectories of mid-gestation human cerebral cortex at molecular, cellular, cytoarchitectural and functional levels. We leverage forebrain organoids as a platform to study congenital brain malformation associated to mutations in KIF26A gene, which encodes a kinesin that is highly expressed in the second trimester of corticogenesis specifically by migrating excitatory neurons. We generated KIF26A knockout hiPSC lines using CRISPR-Cas9 and compared the phenotypes of the mutant organoids with isogenic parental control. Mutant organoids exhibited altered lamination of the subventricular zone and cortical plate, arrested radial migration of cortical neurons, and elevated levels of apoptosis. These phenotypes convincingly relate to the microcephaly and polymicrogyria phenotypes manifested in individuals carrying KIF26A mutations. Finally, we performed scRNA-seq of mutant and control brain organoids and identified cell type-specific changes in gene expression upon loss of KIF26A, underscoring its critical functions in coordinating various pathways related to neuronal migration and maturation.

SCSB Colloquium Series - David Liu, Ph.D.
2021-03-17 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: David Liu, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Richard Merkin Professor and Director of the Merkin Institute of Transformative Technologies in Healthcare; Core Institute Member and Vice-Chair of the Faculty, Broad Institute; Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences, and Professor of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Harvard University; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Host: Dr. Guoping Feng
Talk title: Base Editing and Prime Editing: Genome Editing Without Double-Strand Breaks
Abstract: Most genetic variants that contribute to disease are challenging to correct efficiently and without excess byproducts in various cell types using programmable nucleases. In this lecture I describe the development of two approaches to precision genome editing that do not require double-strand DNA breaks, donor DNA templates, or HDR. Through a combination of protein engineering and protein evolution, we developed two classes of base editors (CBE and ABE), proteins that enable all four types of transition mutations (C to T, T to C, A to G, and G to A) to be efficiently and cleanly installed or corrected at target positions in genomic DNA without making double-strand DNA breaks (Komor et al. Nature 2016; Gaudelli et al. Nature 2017). We also engineered a novel double-strand DNA deaminase discovered by Joseph Mougous’s lab into a mitochondrial base editor, enabling the first precision edits in the mitochondrial DNA of living cells (Mok et al. Nature 2020). Base editing has been used by laboratories around the world in a wide range of organisms and cell types. By integrating base editors with in vivo delivery strategies, we have addressed animal models of human genetic diseases such as progeria, with a high degree of phenotypic rescue and lifespan extension (Koblan et al. Nature 2021). I will also describe prime editing, a versatile and precise genome editing method that directly writes new genetic information into a specified DNA site using a catalytically impaired Cas9 fused to an engineered reverse transcriptase, programmed with a prime editing guide RNA (pegRNA) that both specifies the target site and encodes the desired edit (Anzalone et al. Nature 2019). We performed >175 edits in human cells including targeted insertions, deletions, and all 12 types of point mutations without requiring double-strand breaks or donor DNA templates. We applied prime editing in human cells to correct efficiently and with few byproducts the primary genetic causes of sickle cell disease (requiring a transversion in HBB) and Tay-Sachs disease (requiring a deletion in HEXA), to install a protective transversion in PRNP, and to precisely insert various tags and epitopes into target loci. Four human cell lines and primary post-mitotic mouse cortical neurons support prime editing with varying efficiencies. Prime editing offers efficiency and product purity advantages over HDR, complementary strengths and weaknesses compared to base editing, and lower off-target editing than Cas9 nuclease at known Cas9 off-target sites. Prime editing further expands the scope and capabilities of genome editing.
Click here to view the recording of the talk
Links to relevant publications:

Programmable Editing of a Target Base in Genomic DNA Without Double-Stranded DNA Cleavage. Komor, A. C.; Kim, Y. B.; Packer, M. S.; Zuris, J. A.; Liu, D. R. Nature533, 420-424 (2016). PDF, SI, Expanded Extended Data Figure 6
Programmable Base Editing of A*T to G*C in Genomic DNA Without DNA Cleavage. Gaudelli, N. M.; Komor, A. C.; Rees, H. A.; Packer, M. S.; Badran, A. H.; Bryson, D. I.; Liu, D. R. Nature551, 464-471 (2017). PDF, SI
A Bacterial Cytidine Deaminase Toxin Enables CRISPR-Free Mitochondrial Base Editing. Mok, B. Y; de Moraes, M. H; Zeng, J; Bosch, D. E; Kotrys, A. V; Raguram, A.; Hsu, F; Radley, M.C; Peterson, S. B; Mootha, V.K; Mougous, J.D; Liu, D. R. Nature. 583,631-637 (2020). PDF, SI
In Vivo Adenine Base Editing Corrects Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome.Koblan L. W.; Erdos, M. R.; Wilson, C.; Cabral, W. A.; Levy, J. M.; Xiong, Z.-M.; Taarez, U. L.; Davison, L.; Gete, Y. G.; Mao, X.; Newby, G. A.; Doherty, S. P.; Lin, C. Y.; Gordon, L. B.; Cao, K.; Collins, F. S.; Brown, J. D.; Liu, D. R. Nature in press, available online (2021). PDF
Search-and-replace genome editing without double-strand breaks or donor DNA. Anzalone, A.V.; Randolph, P.B.; Davis, J.R.; Sousa, A.A.; Koblan, L.W.; Levy, J.M.; Chen, P.J.; Wilson, C.; Newby, G.A.; Raguram, A.; Liu, D.R. Nature, 576, 149–157(2019). PDF SI

SCSB Lunch Series: Frederik Kamps, Ph.D.
2021-02-26 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Friday, February 26, 2021
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Frederik Kamps, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Simons Postdoctoral Fellow, Rebecca Saxe Laboratory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT
Talk title: Early emergence and later development of face, scene, and object regions revealed by natural vision

Abstract: Uncovering its neural basis of ASD will ultimately require understanding how neural systems are affected in early stages of development. However, collecting high quality fMRI data from young children remains challenging. We addressed this challenge by studying fMRI responses to an engaging animated movie in 122 children ages 3-12, focusing on two face-selective regions hypothesized to be impaired in ASD – the fusiform face area (FFA) and posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) – as well as control regions involved in perception of scenes/places and objects. Remarkably, adult-like function was already detectable across face, scene, and object regions by just 3 years of age. Later in development, individual regions matured along distinct trajectories. For example, the pSTS showed significantly more protracted developmental change than the FFA. Our results highlight the promise of naturalistic movie approaches for the study of early cortical development, setting the stage for future work in ASD.
Click here to view the recording of the talk

SCSB Colloquium Series - Mina Cikara, Ph.D.
2021-02-17 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Mina Cikara, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Harvard University
Host: Dr. Ev Fedorenko
Talk title: Context dependence in social decision-making
Abstract: Many of society’s most significant social decisions are made over sets of individuals: for example, evaluating a collection of job candidates when making a hiring decision. Rational theories of choice dictate that decision makers’ preferences between any two options should remain the same irrespective of the number or quality of other options. And yet, people’s preferences for each option in a choice set shift in predictable ways as a function of the available alternatives. These violations are well documented in consumer behavior contexts: for example, the decoy effect, in which introducing a third inferior product changes consumers’ preferences for two original products. I will discuss two projects which shift the target of inquiry from products to people, and aim to harness insights from computational models of decision-making to examine how choice set construction can be used to change social categorization and intergroup behavior.
Publications are available here: http://www.intergroupneurosciencelaboratory.com/publications
Click here to view the recording of the talk

SCSB Colloquium Series - Maja J. Matarić, Ph.D.
2020-12-09 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Maja J. Matarić, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Chan Soon-Shiong Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, Neuroscience, and Pediatrics; Interim Vice President of Research; Founding Director, USC Robotics and Autonomous Systems Center; Director, USC Robotics Research Lab, University of Southern California
Host: Dr. Ev Fedorenko
Talk title: Socially Assistive Robotics as a Path to Accessible Personalized ASD Therapy Support
Abstract: The last decade has seen a convergence of technologies that make it possible for users to interact with intelligent agents in therapeutic settings. Concurrently, much research has been done into socially assistive robotics, physically embodied systems (typically designed to be small and safe) aimed at delivering personalized interactions for children on the autism spectrum, demonstrating promising results in improving various behavioral outcomes. In the absence of large-scale clinical trials evaluating such methods, it is important to not overlook their promise or overstate their abilities. What can socially assistive robots do, what have they already done to date, why aren’t they in many homes yet, how soon will they be in our homes, and what may that mean for ASD therapy and for early childhood development more broadly? This talk will discuss the science and technology, as well as commercialization, accessibility, and privacy implications of socially assistive robotics for ASD.
Click here to view the recording of the talk

SCSB Colloquium Series - Christopher A. Walsh, M.D., Ph.D.
2020-11-18 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Christopher A. Walsh, M.D., Ph.D.
Affiliation: Chief of Genetics and Genomics, Boston Children’s Hospital, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Host: Dr. Mriganka Sur
Talk title: One brain, many genomes: somatic mutation and genomic diversity in human brain
Abstract: Although it had long been assumed that the genomes of all neurons are identical, recent work has shown that every cell division causes mutations even during normal development, and that postmitotic neurons continue to accumulate mutations throughout life. Clonal somatic mutations create a mosaic brain that in some cases is associated with epileptic brain malformations and autism spectrum disorders, and may contribute to other neuropsychiatric diseases. The mutations that arise during development also represent a permanent forensic cell lineage map of the body. This lecture will discuss mutations that distinguish the genome of one neuron from the neuron next to it in human brain, and the implications for normal brain development, and neurological diseases.
Click here to view the recording of the talk

SCSB Lunch Series: Jakob Voigts, Ph.D.
2020-11-13 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Friday, November 13, 2020
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Jakob Voigts, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Postdoctoral Fellow, Mark Harnett Laboratory, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT
Talk title: Representation of spatial hypotheses in mouse retrosplenial cortex
Abstract: Navigation requires associating different streams of information, and interpreting sensory information in the context of existing knowledge about one’s position. For example when giving directions, saying ‘the red building’ might be ambiguous, but saying ‘the second red building after the gas station’ would work. Here we recorded in mouse retrosplenial cortex, thought to be a central hub for carrying out such associations during navigation, in a task in which landmarks are only useful if considered in their spatial context. We then examined how the mouse having only partial knowledge about its position is reflected by neurons in this brain region, and how sensory inputs can take on different meanings depending on prior sensory inputs and on knowledge of the environment. Our findings provide insights into how mice navigate with unreliable or ambiguous cues, and provide a starting point for studying context dependent cortical computations by using navigation as a model system.
Click here to view the recording of the talk

SCSB Colloquium Series - Rebecca Lawson, Ph.D.
2020-11-04 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom Webinar, Virtual, MA
Date: Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Location: Zoom Webinar – Registration Required
Register in advance for this webinar: click here
* After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Speaker: Rebecca Lawson, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Lecturer, Principal Investigator, University of Cambridge, UK
Host: Dr. Anila D’Mello
Talk title: The computational psychiatry of autism: perception, prediction and learning.
Abstract: Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition with a complex genetic basis that affects how people interact with the social and the non-social environment. Prominent psychological theories of autism have suggested that the core cognitive difficulty concerns the ability to process context, but there’s a lack of clarity about what “context” actually means. Computational approaches give us the tools to formalise how sensory and neural processes are contextualised across space and time. In this talk I will first outline a general computational account of autism spectrum disorder that is rooted within Bayesian inference. I will then present the findings from a series of recent studies examining differences in how autistic people process and learn about different kinds of context, and how this might lead to sensory difficulties and cognitive (in)flexibility in the face of uncertainty. I will conclude by describing how we might employ computational methods to understand the developmental origins of neuropsychiatric conditions more generally.
Click here to view the recording of the talk
