Constructing and de-constructing brain network activity in the mouse

Summary: While molecules and cells are the biological building blocks of the brain, virtually all behaviours arise as a result of computations that are implemented through neural interactions within macro-scale networks. However, mechanistic insight into how specific neuronal signalling at the cell level translates into changes in macroscopic connectivity is limited. In my lab, we use functional neuroimaging, neural modulation and computational approaches to uncover the basic mechanisms that link network-level brain signals with the underlying cellular activity, in health and disease. In this talk, I will be giving an overview of my past work and discuss more in details about the role of the Locus Coeruleus / Norepinephrine system in reconfiguring communication between large-scale networks in the brain.

Biosketch: Valerio Zerbi got his master degree in Biomedical Engineering (2008) at the Politecnico of Milano, Italy. Thereafter he moved to the Netherlands, where he obtained a PhD in Medical Sciences (2013) at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, as well as the diploma at the Donders Graduate School for Cognitive Neuroscience. In 2014 he moved to Zurich, where he won an ETH Postdoctoral Fellowship award, to work in the lab of Prof. Nici Wenderoth. Since 2017 Valerio is a Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Ambizione fellow. He is currently leading an independent research team of 3 PhD Students. Valerio has dedicated his research efforts on advancing the field of rodent functional neuroimaging. His work has thus far provided the critical foundation for using preclinical fMRI as a translational tool (i) for studying the interactions between brain structure and function at multiple spatial scales, (ii) for detecting deviations in network connectivity in numerous mouse models of neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders, (iii) for identifying the effects of cell manipulation on large-scale networks (using  pharmacological, chemogenetics and optogenetics interventions) and (iv) for studying the principles of brain evolution. More recently, he has been the first to apply simultaneous chemogenetic of the Locus Coeruleus with fMRI to study how this reconfigures communication between large-scale networks in the brain.His long-term ambition is to change the use and interpretation of neuroimaging data, from a descriptive approach towards a mechanistic understanding of their biological meaning.