Physiology and Biophysics

⚡️Join us today for a Special Seminar Seminar!⚡️

Fernandez-Mariño Lab seminar with Francisco “Pancho” Bezanilla: "Action Potential: from voltage-dependent conductances to their molecular bases."

🕒 9:30AM | February 17
📍 L15-6101 | Building A01

Praveen Kuruppath and colleagues from @cuanschutz-dpb.bsky.social observed that connexin 36-mediated gap junctions contribute to fine odour discrimination and late-phase excitation of #mitral cells in the mouse #olfactory bulb 🧠 🐁

🔗 Read the study: physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/...

This coverage showcases how VISTA seed funding is driving innovative vision science research.👁️✨

Read more: news.cuanschutz.edu/ophthalmology/vision-science-research-seed-grants

🚨Breaking News🚨

Vision Cluster was interviewed about their VISTA Seed Grant from the Department of Ophthalmology!

Congratulations to all involved!

Read more: pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2515449122

This work introduces powerful new analysis methods, marks the first use of a cutting-edge spatial genetics platform at CU Anschutz, and shows important differences between mouse and human eyes, highlighting both the strengths and limits of using mice to study human vision and eye disease.

We also discovered that even cells of the same type can have different gene expression depending on where they are in the eye.

Using advanced genetic tools and machine learning, we created the first complete map showing where each cell type is located in the mouse retina and found that some are spread evenly, while others are concentrated in specific regions linked to their visual roles.

In this project, we studied how the mouse eye is organized by mapping all 45 types of specialized visual cells, called retinal ganglion cells, that send information from the eye to the brain. Each type is tuned to detect different things, such as predators above or objects seen with both eyes.

People often think all eyes work like human eyes, with sharp vision in the center and blurrier vision at the edges—but many animals see the world very differently.

🔊New Publication in PNAS!

“A complete spatial map of mouse retinal ganglion cells reveals density and gene expression specializations”

Read more: pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2515449122

Read more: tr.ee/qttV7c

This study will provide a useful behavioral tool in quickly assessing spatial hearing abilities in large numbers of animals for future auditory neuroscience studies.

In this study, we ran a large cohort of gerbils through a number of behavior tasks to show their abilities in localizing sound source, all without training the animals.

For the first time, we show that prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response, a reflex in the animal, can be used as a quick, high-throughput paradigm for assessing spatial hearing behavior in the gerbil.

Gerbils have commonly been used in auditory neuroscience, as their hearing range is closer to that of humans than other rodents. However, most behavior in auditory neuroscience relies on lengthy training and testing paradigms.

🔊 New Publication in Hearing Research!

"Spatial hearing and temporal processing ability of the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) measured using prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle"

Our department extends sincere thanks to Heather Snell, Ph.D., for an amazing seminar on movement and cognition, and our faculty member Tahra Eissa, Ph.D., for hosting our speaker.

We value these opportunities to learn together and look forward to carrying these insights forward in our research.

Overall, the study shows that these connections are especially important for fine, precise sensory discrimination rather than basic smell detection.

🔗 Read more: tr.ee/ZVD8hz

Brain recordings showed that smell-processing cells in these mice had weaker, delayed responses, suggesting these electrical connections help sustain brain activity during difficult decisions.

Mice lacking a key protein called Connexin-36 that underlies electrical connections could still recognize clearly different smells, but they struggled when the smells were very similar.

This study examined how electrical connections between brain cells help mice tell very similar smells apart. The researchers tested mice using a learning task in which the animals had to distinguish between odor mixtures that were almost identical in order to receive a reward.

🧠✨ Just published!

"Connexin 36-mediated gap junctions contribute to fine odour discrimination and late-phase excitation of mitral cells in the mouse olfactory bulb"

🔗 Read more: tr.ee/ZVD8hz

Friendly reminder about our seminar tomorrow!

📢 Join us Thursday, December 18th for Dr. Nathan Schoppa’s seminar: “Function of tufted cells in driving gamma oscillations in the mouse olfactory bulb”

🗓️ December 18 | 9:30AM
📍 RC1 North, Room 7108

Clinically, the findings emphasize the importance of detecting and treating even temporary pediatric hearing loss to prevent enduring effects on spatial hearing and long-term speech and language development.

🎉 Congrats to Daniel Tollin and Nathaniel Greene on yet another achievement! 👏🥳

These deficits persist even after the hearing loss resolves. The research found that deprivation in infancy or childhood—unlike adult-onset loss—produced significant brainstem and behavioral changes, identifying a critical period for developing binaural hearing circuitry.

📢 New PLOS publication from our department! 🧠👂

The study reveals that even brief early-life hearing deprivation, common during childhood ear infections, can cause lasting brainstem processing deficits that impair spatial hearing essential for understanding speech in noisy settings.

🧩 This discovery overturns the long-held assumption that inhibitory neurons act as simple relays, showing instead that their dendrites perform specialized computations that sculpt the timing and flow of cortical activity. 🧠🔬

⚡ Fast-spiking parvalbumin (PV) cells integrate inputs sublinearly, limiting their response and enabling rapid, precisely timed inhibition.

🌊 In contrast, somatostatin (SST) cells integrate supralinearly through NMDA receptors, amplifying inputs to produce slower, more sustained inhibition.