Scientist looking down a microscope symbolizing innovation

Innovation

Nurturing translation and tech transfer

Two scientists looking at an image of a brain on a screen

Our mission

Discovering how the brain gives rise to behaviour

Scientist adjusting experimental set-up

TRANSFORMATIVE TRAINING

Creating future leaders in neuroscience

Two neuroscientists collaborating next to a screen with a brain on

RESEARCH CULTURE

Interdisciplinary collaboration on the brain

Long-term learning trajectories: uncovering the role of dopamine

Dopamine plays an important role in learning. However, we know little about how it governs diverse learning across individuals over long periods of time. A research collaboration between the Lak Lab at the University of Oxford and the Saxe Lab at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre at UCL set out to investigate the role of dopamine and the rules that govern long-term learning.

Diagram showing four images depicting behaviour, striatal dopamine, deep RL model and saddle points

Flexible minds: how do we decide what to do next?

What enables the brain to imagine possibilities, weigh up options, and decide what to do next? In a recent SWC Seminar, Professor Loren Frank shared his research into the neural basis of cognitive flexibility – the brain’s amazing ability to adapt thoughts and behaviours in response to changing environments. In this Q&A, Professor Frank explains how his lab has developed naturalistic tasks in rats to reveal how the hippocampus represents not only where an animal is, but also where it could have been or might go next. He also explores the potential implications for understanding imagination and psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia.

Dr Mehran Ahmadlou to lead new group at the University of Oxford

We are delighted to announce that Dr Mehran Ahmadlou, a Senior Research Fellow at SWC, will join the University of Oxford’s Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics as a Group Leader this September. His new lab will study the neural mechanisms underlying adaptive behaviours, building on his research at SWC exploring how animals decide whether to pursue a current goal or switch to a new one.

Photo of Dr Mehran Ahmadlou smiling in the lab at SWC

What makes us human?

Dr Franck Polleux, based at Columbia University, is studying the unique properties of the human brain. How does it develop? How did we evolve? What makes us different from other species? Following his recent seminar at SWC, Franck sat down with us to discuss his work and interests, spanning from cave paintings to genetics.

Why join SWC?

Career development is personal, and it can look different for different people. As SWC expands there are lots of opportunities to become involved and carve out a meaningful career path with us. We’re proud to be a place where talent is recognised and developed.

Ground Floor Lecture Theatre

SWC Seminar: Neocortical long-range inhibitory neurons coordinate state-dependent network synchronization and promote sleep

Dr Renata Batista Brito

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Ground Floor Lecture Theatre

SWC Hybrid Seminar: Motor preparation and learning: a multiregional perspective

Tsinghua University