Faculty Network Member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences
Email: glickfeld@neuro.duke.edu
Phone: 919-613-0946
Glickfeld Lab
Functional organization of visual cortical circuits
Our everyday activities require that we process and react to a rich mixture of sensory stimuli. In vision, these stimuli are spatial, temporal and spectral patterns of light that the retina transmits to the cortex. Neural circuits in the cortex must then achieve two seemingly disparate goals: 1) assemble an accurate and unified representation of the visual world, and 2) flexibly meet the demands of each situation by selecting relevant information and discarding distractors. To understand how cortical circuits achieve these vital tasks, our goal is to determine how neuronal connectivity and synaptic dynamics combine to encode sensory input and support perception.
Our research is focused on the synaptic organization of the mouse visual cortex. This is an ideal system for studying the conjunction of anatomy and physiology in sensory processing because 1) the stimuli that physiologically drive these neurons are well characterized, 2) the visual cortex is easily accessible for monitoring and manipulating neuronal activity, and 3) there are good behavioral readouts for determining the effect of these manipulations on perception.
Using this as our model system, we are addressing the following two broad questions:
What are the cellular and circuit mechanisms for processing diverse sensory input?
How do these circuits shape perception?
Glickfeld Lab Members
Alumni
Robin Blazing
Former Research Tech II
Currently a Ph.D. student at Duke University.
Rohan Bhat
Former Research Assistant
Theodora Christopher
Former Undergraduate Researcher
Courtney Dobrott
Former Undergraduate Researcher
Currently a PhD Student at UC Denver.
Megan Fowler
Former Undergraduate Researcher
Currently a Research Assistant at Boston Children's Hospital
Benjamin Gincley
Former Undergraduate Researcher
Currently a PhD Student at Northeastern
Charlie Hass
Former Postdoc
Currently at Core Compete
Gary Hoffman
Former Undergraduate Researcher
Currently a Medical Student at Rutgers
Jennifer Isaac
Former Research Tech II
Currently an M.D./Ph.D. student at Emory University.
Miaomiao Jin
Former Graduate Student
Currently a postdoctoral fellow in Fan Wang's lab at Duke University
Amy Kristl
Former Undergraduate Researcher
Currently a PhD Student at Northwestern
Kyra Leonard
Former Undergraduate Researcher
Andrew McKinney
Former Research Tech
Currently a Ph.D. student at Baylor College of Medicine.
Ian Matthews
Former Research Tech II
Anika Mukherjee
Former Undergraduate Researcher
Kevin Murgas
Former Research Tech II
Currently an M.D./Ph.D. student at Stony Brook University-SUNY.
Jeffrey Sims
Former Research Tech
Currently an M.D. student at NYU.
Nevyana Todorova
Former Undergraduate Researcher
Ashley Wilson
Former Neurobiology graduate student and postdoc
Currently a Product Manager at Aktify
Aiwei Yan
Former Undergraduate Researcher
Glickfeld Research
To study the functional organization of the visual cortex, we use a variety of systems and cellular approaches both in vivo and in vitro, including imaging, electrophysiology, optogenetics, anatomy and behavior.
Most of our experiments begin with mice with chronically implanted cranial windows. These windows expose primary visual cortex (V1), the surrounding higher visual areas, in addition to parts of somatosensory and auditory cortex. We then use either genetic markers or intrinsic signal imaging to locate specific areas and target them for expression of genetically encoded calcium sensors or optically activated channels.
Neurons in V1 are highly selective for specific visual stimuli, and neighboring neurons have diverse receptive field preferences. These V1 neurons make target-specific projections to an array of functionally specialized higher areas, providing a simple structure for studying how the cortex handles diverse sensory input.
Glickfeld Publications
Li, Jennifer Y., Charles A. Hass, Ian Matthews, Amy C. Kristl, and Lindsey L. Glickfeld. “Distinct recruitment of feedforward and recurrent pathways across higher-order areas of mouse visual cortex.” Curr Biol 31, no. 22 (November 22, 2021): 5024-5036.e5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.09.042.
Jin, Miaomiao, and Lindsey L. Glickfeld. “Mouse Higher Visual Areas Provide Both Distributed and Specialized Contributions to Visually Guided Behaviors.” Curr Biol 30, no. 23 (December 7, 2020): 4682-4692.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.09.015.
Jin, Miaomiao, and Lindsey L. Glickfeld. “Magnitude, time course, and specificity of rapid adaptation across mouse visual areas.” J Neurophysiol 124, no. 1 (July 1, 2020): 245–58. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00758.2019.
Murgas, Kevin A., Ashley M. Wilson, Valerie Michael, and Lindsey L. Glickfeld. “Unique Spatial Integration in Mouse Primary Visual Cortex and Higher Visual Areas.” J Neurosci 40, no. 9 (February 26, 2020): 1862–73. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1997-19.2020.
Jin, Miaomiao, and Lindsey L. Glickfeld. “Contribution of Sensory Encoding to Measured Bias.” J Neurosci 39, no. 26 (June 26, 2019): 5115–27. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0076-19.2019.
Jin, Miaomiao, Jeffrey M. Beck, and Lindsey L. Glickfeld. “Neuronal Adaptation Reveals a Suboptimal Decoding of Orientation Tuned Populations in the Mouse Visual Cortex.” J Neurosci 39, no. 20 (May 15, 2019): 3867–81. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3172-18.2019.
Glickfeld, Lindsey L. “Visual Attention: Mice Can Use Spatial Cues Too.” Curr Biol 28, no. 5 (March 5, 2018): R230–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.01.072.
Glickfeld, Lindsey L., and Shawn R. Olsen. “Higher-Order Areas of the Mouse Visual Cortex.” Annu Rev Vis Sci 3 (September 15, 2017): 251–73. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-vision-102016-061331.
Hass, Charles A., and Lindsey L. Glickfeld. “High-fidelity optical excitation of cortico-cortical projections at physiological frequencies.” J Neurophysiol 116, no. 5 (November 1, 2016): 2056–66. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00456.2016.
Goldey, Glenn J., Demetris K. Roumis, Lindsey L. Glickfeld, Aaron M. Kerlin, R Clay Reid, Vincent Bonin, Dorothy P. Schafer, and Mark L. Andermann. “Removable cranial windows for long-term imaging in awake mice.” Nat Protoc 9, no. 11 (November 2014): 2515–38. https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2014.165.
Glickfeld Open Positions
We currently have openings for motivated graduate students and postdoctoral fellows with interests and/or experience in in vivo or in vitroelectrophysiology, two-photon imaging or behavior.
We are also looking to hire committed undergraduate students willing to spend >15 hours per week to assist in surgical procedures, behavioral training or anatomical projects.
Interested candidates should send their CV, a brief statement of research interests and goals, and the names and contact information of 3 references to Lindsey Glickfeld at glickfeld@neuro.duke.edu.