Blog | Sainsbury Wellcome Centre

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How do astrocytes in the brain tell the body when to give up?

Knowing when to give up is crucial for survival. But how does the brain enable the body to switch behaviours when an action isn’t achieving its goal? In his recent SWC Virtual Seminar, Dr Mu outlined his research showing the importance of a type of cell in the brain called astrocytes.

Flock of birds in the sky with SWC Speaker series text overlaid

Understanding how collective behaviour leads to collective intelligence or stupidity

Like a flock of birds in the sky, our behaviour is influenced by those around us. Professor Krause, who recently gave a SWC virtual Seminar, outlines his research on how animals make decisions in groups and the potential applications of these principles for human society.

Mouse primary and higher visual areas seen from the top. Sonja Hofer and her team at the SWC are trying to uncover the precise organisation and function of a higher-order thalamic nucleus called the pulvinar, which is the largest thalamic area in humans and is strongly interconnected with the part of the cerebral cortex responsible for vision.

Exploring how the thalamus contributes to cognition

Sonja Hofer and her team at SWC are trying to uncover the precise organisation and function of a higher-order thalamic nucleus called the pulvinar, which is the largest thalamic area in humans and is strongly interconnected with the part of the cerebral cortex responsible for vision.

Improving translation by building bridges between industry and academia

Understanding and addressing mental and neurological disorders is an urgent need, with hundreds of millions of people affected worldwide. Neuroscience has a major role to play, but how can industry and academia work together most effectively to tackle these challenging unmet needs? We are pleased to partner with the British Neuroscience Association on the ‘Building Bridges Between: Industry and Academia’ initiative.

SWC Speaker Series banner image showing chess board

Visual circuits for action – an evolutionary perspective

Your ability to play chess, drive a car, or even just read this article, all depends on your brain’s capacity to link perception with action. In this Q&A, Dr Sarah Ruediger explains her strive to understand the structure and function of the neural circuits that give rise to an animal’s ability to use sensory information to implement purposeful actions.

Diagram of Neuropixels 2.0

Developing Neuropixels 2.0 to stably track neurons over months

Described in a new paper published in Science, the new Neuropixels 2.0 probes build upon the success of the original Neuropixels probes to improve stability, among other features, so that recordings of the same neurons can be performed over longer time periods in small animals.

Widefield calcium responses across dorsal cortex in mice

Decision-making using uncertain sensory evidence and temporal expectation

Researchers at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre explored decision-making in mice using a novel behavioural framework and widefield calcium imaging across dorsal cortex to elucidate how sensory evidence gets transformed across multiple brain areas simultaneously.

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Learning and forgetting in primary olfactory cortex

How does the brain learn about odours and how often are these memories overwritten? In this Q&A, Dr Carl Schoonover and Dr Andrew Fink, who recently gave the final lecture in our 2020 Emerging Neuroscientists Seminar Series, outline their research on learning and forgetting in primary olfactory cortex.

Brain visualisation using brainrender

Brainrender: visualising brain data in 3D

Federico Claudi, PhD student in the Branco Lab, and team at SWC, have developed an open-source Python package called brainrender, which enables interactive 3D visualisation of anatomical data and allows neuroscientists to gain a more intuitive understanding of brain structures.

Mouse running in virtual reality

Does the brain recycle mechanisms for learning and attention?

Learning and attention have a similar purpose: to allow the brain to improve behavioural performance. Yet we don’t know whether the brain implements these processes in the same way. Researchers at SWC are working to uncover how often the brain recycles underlying mechanisms for processes with similar functions, such as learning and attention.

Journeys in Neuroscience

Pursuing a PhD in neuroscience

Nicole Vissers, PhD student in the Hofer Lab at SWC, shares her journey in science so far and her advice to those interested in pursuing a PhD in neuroscience.

Nose smelling flower

Cortical circuits for olfactory behaviour

There seems to be a particularly privileged relationship between olfaction and spatial memory. Despite this, we know very little about higher order olfactory functions and behaviour. In this Q&A, Dr Cindy Poo, who recently gave a virtual SWC seminar, outlines her research on cortical circuits for olfactory behaviour.