Project Title: Cerebellar Learning in LTD-Impaired Mice
BASIS Advisor: Dr. Murthy
Internship Location: Stanford University
Onsite Mentor: Dr. Jennifer Raymond
The cerebellum, a brain area central to movement, balance, and coordination, is a learning machine. Through the process of long-term depression (LTD), the cerebellum eliminates neuron connections that produce errors in movement, and this is how the brain learns movements. Previous research shows that mice with LTD impairments learn better than normal; this project seeks to confirm or reject that hypothesis. My research, which will take place at Stanford University, will include training mice to increase eye movements in response to rotational head motion. I will record the eye movements of LTD-impaired mice and compare them with those of wild-type mice. Results from these experiments will improve our understanding of cerebellar learning mechanisms and provide a point for comparison for the mouse equivalent of Fragile X disorder, in which mice have enhanced LTD.
My Posts
Week 12: Wrapping Up
May 13, 2019
I finished the second round of experiments last week, although I will have to redo some — experiments don’t always turn out well. As I work on my final product, a lab report, data analysis is becoming a very important factor, so I’ll talk a bit about how it works. Before I even analyze, it’s […]
Week 11: New VOR Data
Apr 29, 2019
This week began on Wednesday for me; I began running experiments that day, and have been running them through the weekend as well. It still takes about an hour and 40 minutes to run each one. I will be completely done by May 4, end of this week (which, I guess is the last week […]
Week 10: Time to Rerun
Apr 28, 2019
Last week, I finished the last two experiments of the 6 pilots with the new procedure. They showed the effect we were looking for! Once we have a script to properly implement the new procedure, I’ll be running the experiments again. We also had a lab cleanup. When a lab is 20 years old […]
Week 9: Poking Holes
Apr 18, 2019
Last week at the lab was short, so my post for the week is pretty short too. Before I went out of town on Wednesday, I ran 4 of the 6 pilot experiments that I needed to before we analyze data. I thought I’d be able to have all 6 done, but that’s how research […]
Week 8: Procedure Piloting and Presentations
Apr 12, 2019
After analyzing the data, we’ve concluded on Friday that I may need to redo some experiments (about 30 of the 68). Now that I’ve learned a bit from my previous mistakes, I’ve realized the importance of properly piloting a procedure. This just means that when we decide on a procedure, we run a few experiments […]
Week 7: Finishing Up Experiments and Data Analysis
Apr 06, 2019
Hey everyone! Despite likely faultiness in procedure, I am finishing up the last few experiments this week and will be analyzing. I wanted to go over how we do calibration and analysis. As a quick refresher, the way we get data is from movement of a magnet above the eye, that moves with the eye. […]
Week 6: Research 101
Mar 25, 2019
I just found out this morning that my four weeks of work may have gone to waste. Because the person who needs these experiments done was gone for a month (during which I started these experiments) (to Bangladesh, a country with pretty bad WiFi), he couldn’t tell me exactly how he wanted them done. He […]
Week 5: Long-Term Depression
Mar 21, 2019
Anyone wondering why I haven’t posted about the results of the OKR data? I have to keep some secrets … and while we’re on that subject, make sure to attend my presentation (hint hint!). 🙂 Last week was completely full of experiments, and also included troubleshooting of a camera. More on that below. We have […]
Week 4: The VOR
Mar 12, 2019
Introducing all of you to the Raymond Lab’s modus operandi, the vestibulo-ocular reflex! We do get OKR (optokinetic reflex) data, but VOR data is our staple here. Get ready for your weekly lesson on mouse eye movements! Two weeks ago we talked about how mice move their eyes to follow objects moving in their visual […]
Week 3: Preliminary OKR Analysis and More Data Collection
Mar 05, 2019
This past week, I’ve been analyzing all my data from those 17 OKR experiments. During the course of an experiment, mice will make a lot of eye movements that are extraneous or unrelated to the stimulus. Normally their eye movements are sinusoidal, following the stimulus in the visual field (as part of the optokinetic reflex, […]
Week 2: OKR Data Collection
Feb 25, 2019
Last week was very busy. Each experiment takes about 1.5 hours to run, and I had 17. So that’s 25.5 hours, not including any of my other duties in the lab. There were some pretty long days. The experiments I ran last week were OKR experiments, testing the ability to follow objects moving in the […]
Week 1: Introduction to Cerebellar Learning
Feb 18, 2019
Welcome! My senior project studies the effects of impaired long-term depression on cerebellar learning. The cerebellum is a brain structure present in mammals, at the back of the brain, and is thought to be heavily involved in motor learning and coordination. Previous work has shown that the cerebellum is critical for two reflexes: the vestibulo-ocular […]