Oct 26, 9:15am
Mu-ming Poo
Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-inspired Technology
Transcriptome, Connectome and Neuromodulation of the Primate Brain
Elucidation of the organization and operation principles of neural circuits is the key to unlock the mystery of the brain. In the coming decade, single-cell transcriptome analysis will help to identify all cell types and their distribution in rodent, non-human primate (NHP) and human brains. Aided by the transcriptomic information, high-throughput single neuron tracing will yield cell type-specific connectomes of rodent and NHP brains. Circuit-specific neuromodulation will help to elucidate the circuit basis of various brain functions and dysfunctions in NHPs, facilitating effective uses of neuromodulation in treating brain disorders. In this presentation, I will summarize overall research objectives of the China Brain Project (2021-2030), and various programs on transcriptomics, connectomics and neuromodulation of the primate brain. I will discuss how future progress in these areas could be facilitated by having a consensual definition of neuronal types and subtypes, and by clarifying the meaning of cause-effect relationship in the complex neural network. Before achieving complete elucidation of the neural circuit basis of brain functions and dysfunctions, the efficacy of neuromodulation-based therapies could be improved by developing NHP models of brain disorders, refining the timing and other parameters of modulation, and monitoring modulation-induced changes in the brain state.
Professor Mu-ming Poo is the Scientific Director of the Institute of Neuroscience and Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a member of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hong Kong Academy of Science, and an international member of the US National Academy of Sciences. He received the Gruber Neuroscience Prize in 2016. His main research interests are to understand the cellular mechanisms underlying neuronal development, synaptic plasticity, and neural circuit basis of higher cognitive functions. Recently, he has been using non-human primates as animal models to study higher cognitive functions and human brain disorders. Professor Poo will give the Sievers Lecture in Computational Neuroscience.
The Sievers Computational Neuroscience Initiative (SCNI) builds cross-disciplinary experience in neurological sciences research and neuroinformatics to establish a computational neuroscience approach to modelling brain states in healthy ageing and disease.
The SCNI provides training and mentoring for tomorrow’s researchers to undertake and partake in complex studies, and to build the computer infrastructures and brain-based datasets to support this research.
