Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is very interesting and we have previously shown that there are projections from OFC to A1 and that thei projection can drive plasticity in A1. But what do these projections do when we are listening? Here, by imaging OFC projection acitivity in A1 in behaving mice Jonah shows that the OFC projections to A1 are functionally diverse and convey both sound and task information. Read more here in Current Biology.

New paper out: Georgia and Chih-Ting investigated the functional lateralization of the auditory cortex. To do this they built a bilateral microscope to simultaneously image both hemispheres in the same mouse. They find that the higher-order area A2 shows functional lateralization to high-frequency tones and adult vocalizations. Functional circuit analysis shows that A2 has lower and asymmetric hemispheric functional connections, which might underlie functional lateralization. They also found that a lack of sound experience prevents the development of asymmetric functional connectivity.  Thus, sensory experience is required to establish functional cross-hemispheric connectivity.

In additon, this work started during covid while rebuilding the lab. Big kudos to Georgia and Chih-Ting!

Read here in PNAS

Heroic collaborative study by Kelson and Jonah is finally published. They looked at changes in how auditory cortex processes sounds embedded in noisy background and how this changes with aging. Read it here in the Journal of Neuroscience. JHU news here.

2 years ago we shut down the lab at UMD for COVID. Over the next year we packed up the lab and moved it to our new home at JHU. A lot of trips carrying stuff in our own cars, during COVID restrictions. Then came rebuilding of old setups and building of new setups with all the supply chain issues. This month marks the moment when the first papers and posters entirely generated in our new lab are being submitted. A momentous occasion that would have been impossible without the teamwork of the fantastic group of people that form the lab and that I have the privilege working with. Congratulations and thanks to: Binghan, Chih-Ting, Didhiti, Georgia, Ji, Jonah, Kate, Kelson, Lillian, Minzi, Travis.

How is information about sound and behavioral choice integrated and processed in auditory cortex to lead to a behavior? Fantastic close collaboration with Babadi and Panzeri lab by Nik, Shoutik, and Loren shows that there are neurons encoding both sound and task information and that there is a sequential transmission of task-televant Information in A1. Read it here in Cell Reports.

Listen to your Mom! A recent review on the influence of early sound experience on auditory cortex circuits. Read it here in Acoustics Today.

We are discussing early brain activity which is both the cause and the consequence of developmental abnormalities and which can be used clinically as a readout of developmental abnormality. Read our review here in Progress in Neurobiology

Great collaboration with Keller lab at UMB. Binghan shows that perinatal opioid exposure has long lasting consequences for auditory cortex circuits and sound processing. Read it here in J Neuroscience.

We spend a lot of time deep in the cortex. Binghan and Ying decided to look at the top of the cortex and show that in early development there are transient connections to Layer 1 cells from infragranular and subplate layers & that this connectivity depends on peripheral activity. Read more in Journal of Neuroscience here.

Otoferlin deficiency leads to impaired cochlear synaptic transmission and is associated with progressive hearing loss in adults. Didhiti and Ying wondered if loss of Otoferlin also had effects on cortical development. They found that spontaneous and sound-driven cortical activity in the first two postnatal weeks was impaired in Otoferlin knockout mice. Moreover, they found that in these mice subplate neurons received exuberant connections from within the cortex. Thus, otoferlin deficiency has a powerful influence on cortical connections and spontaneous activity in early development even before complete deafness. Therefore, peripheral activity has the potential to sculpt cortical structures from the earliest ages, even before hearing impairment is diagnosed. Read the full paper here in Cerebral Cortex.