Title: Examining populations of face-selective cells with calcium imaging in marmoset monkeys

Speaker：Dr. David Hildebrand Postdoctoral Fellow Rockefeller University

Time:  09:30-11:00, Nov. 29th, 2023

Location: B101, Lui Che Woo Building

Host: Yulong Li / Rongbo Sun

Abstract

A major challenge to uncovering the computations and circuits that enable face perception is the disparity in the scales at which the face-processing system has been studied.  We know a great deal about the broad properties of face areas from fMRI and individual ‘face cell’ tuning properties from single-cell electrophysiology. However, it remains difficult to investigate how populations of face cells work together to represent faces without simultaneous activity measurements from many individual face cells. To fill this gap, we developed an approach for recording calcium dynamics from inferotemporal cortical neuron populations in awake, head-restrained marmosets using two-photon microscopy. Using this approach, we are now recording from thousands of neurons within and surrounding the posterior dorsal (PD) face area.

Short Bio

David Hildebrand is a postdoctoral fellow in Freiwald’s lab at Rockefeller University since 2016, focusing his research on investigating the functional organization and neuronal population dynamics in face-selective cortical areas of the marmoset monkey.

From 2015 to 2016, David served as a collaborator in Wei-Chung Allen Lee’s lab at Harvard Medical School. During this period, he made notable contributions by developing a tape-based substrate for automating transmission electron microscopy, showcasing his innovative approach to advancing research methodologies.

In the pursuit of his Ph.D. from 2010 to 2015, David conducted his doctoral research in Florian Engert’s lab at Harvard University. This research involved the reconstruction of larval zebrafish neuronal circuit connectivity using whole-brain serial-section electron microscopy.