斯坦福大学生命科学类科研项目

Stanford University Biology Science Research

科研主题

以下领域内的相关课题，具体课题根据学生的基础，导师面试后确定。

Biomedical Engineering and Sciences［生物医药工程］

Biological Sciences［生物医药科学］

Applied Physics ［应用物理］

Neuroscience ［神经科学］

Biophysics  ［生物物理学］

Molecular Imaging ［分子成像］

课题计划范例

Population analysis of memory-related neural ensemble

Keywords: Neural Ensemble, Memory, Calcium Imaging, Decoding

Summary

The system neuroscience field has transitioned from single cell recordings to high through-put monitoring of hundreds or even thousands of neurons simultaneously. The interpretation of these large data sets requires deep understanding of the psychological nature of related behavior, as well as the rigorous application of relevant statistical techniques. In this project, we will explore a large data set of cortical neuronal activity recorded during mice performing a memory-guided task by calcium imaging. We will use population vector, mutual information, and some machine learning techniques to identify memory-related activity and decode the animal’s behavior. We will design analyses pipelines and try to distinguish neural signature of different psychological constructs.

Students will learn

-- How to open, browse, and process large (individual file over 100Gb) image files.

-- How to use shuffled data to generate null hypothesis to test signal specificity.

-- How to use population vector to describe the real-time ensemble activity in various task-relevant axis.

-- How to construct, cross-validate and test decoders to interpret neural ensemble activity.

-- How to design biological experiments to test the causality suggested by analyses.

Pre-requisite

-- Neuroscience: Students should understand the classic rodent behavioral tasks for short-term and long-term memory, such as contextual or cued fear conditioning and delayed discrimination.

-- Statistics: Students should understand the principles of hypothesis testing and being able to articulate the interpretation of a statistical test results. Students are expected to be familiar with common parametric and non-parametric tests.

-- Programming: Students should be able to understand basic Matlab scripts.