SWC Seminar: Michael Long

TITLE: Uncovering circuit principles that enable robust behavioral sequences

SPEAKER: Professor Michael Long, NYU School of Medicine

ABSTRACT:

For us to interact with the outside world, our brains must plan and dictate our actions and behaviors. In many cases, we learn to reproducibly execute a well-defined series of muscle movements to perform impressive feats, such as hitting a golf ball or playing the violin. How does the brain step through a reliable sequence of premotor commands for behavior?

To address this issue, we study the cellular and circuit mechanisms that enable the production of the zebra finch song, a highly stable behavior executed with a high degree of precision. We use a range of behaviorally-relevant variables to test two categorically distinct models for explaining the population dynamics underlying this behavior, namely a synfire chain (synchronous presynaptic neurons) and a polychronous architecture (coordinated delays enable activation of postsynaptic neurons).

From this work, we can begin to understand the large-scale circuit motifs that underlie sequence generation across a variety of brain regions. 
 

BIOGRAPHY:

Michael Long received his PhD from Brown University, where he worked in the laboratory of Barry Connors examining the role of electrical synapses in the mammalian brain.

Dr. Long then changed his focus to the songbird model system during his postdoctoral years working with Michale Fee at MIT. 
 
Dr. Long moved to the NYU School of Medicine in 2010, where he is currently an Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Research of the Neuroscience Institute with a clinical affiliation in the Department of Otolaryngology.

The Long laboratory combines a variety of fluorescence imaging, electrophysiological, and behavioral techniques to investigate the neural circuitry that gives rise to vocal production in the songbird as well as a nontraditional rodent species.

Through a variety of collaborations, Dr. Long has recently extended his findings into the clinical realm, with an emphasis on the brain processes underlying speech perception and production.