We knew that subplate neurons are the first cortical neurons to respond to sound. Ying and Didhiti now show in mice that altering peripheral activity can change subplate circuits in auditory cortex even before the ear canals open and before thalamus activates layer 4. Thus sensory experience can shape subplate circuits before the “traditional/classic” critical period. Read it here in Science Advances.

Many long discussions with my cherished colleagues Zoltan Molnar (Oxford University) and Heiko Luhmann (Gutenberg University Mainz) about transient circuits in development resulted in a joint review where we distill our thoughts. Read it here in Science: “Transient cortical circuits match spontaneous and sensory-driven activity during development“

The new lab is coming to life. The paint is dry, ethernet ports are active, air tables are installed, most lasers are on the tables, and the microscopes are not too far behind. Stay tuned….

The Kanold lab is moving to Johns Hopkins University later this spring. We will be in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Visit us in the beautiful Miller Research Building, just down the hall from the Daily Grind coffee shop.

What happens to hearing if you don’t see? Turns out a short stay in the dark changes the population activity and sound representation in auditory cortex. Read Krystyna’s new paper in eNeuro: here and summary here.

Big team effort lead by Ying to track the functional development of L2/3 circuits and in vivo activity in A1. Turns out there is substantial transient functional hyperconnectivity esp. from subgranular layers paired with increased pairwise correlations during the critical period. Maybe these connections play a role in plasticity during the critical period? Read the whole story here in Cerebral Cortex.

Nik and Kayla developed a mouse school enabling high throughput behavioral testing! Read the paper from the lab introducing the ToneBox and our first observations using automated behavioral experiments. Build your own! Read it here in eNeuro

Our collaboration with the Plenz lab at NIH is out in Frontiers. Zac and Dan reveal neuronal avalanches in A1 as part of our BRAIN project. Read it here.

Ji’s multilevel study on how auditory cortex processes sound onset and onset in parallel networks in out in Cell Reports. Fun local collaboration with Butts and Babadi lab at UMD.

Could silent connections in development actually do something and not be “just” precursors to AMPA connections? Our review of what silent cortical plate connections on subplate neurons could be doing in development is out. Read it here.