BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Changes in Appetitive Associative Strength and Reward Value Modula
 te the Intrinsic Excitability and Recruitment of Nucleus Accumbens Neurona
 l Ensembles - Eisuke Koya (University of Sussex)
DTSTART:20220513T153000Z
DTEND:20220513T170000Z
UID:TALK173024@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Psychology Reception
DESCRIPTION:Please note this talk will be online and in person\, if you wo
 uld like the Zoom link please email the organiser.There is a capacity of 5
 0 people in the Psychology Lecture Theatre so attendees will be allowed en
 try on a first come first serve basis. There is a possibility that you wil
 l be refused entry once we have reached capacity. \n\n\n*Biography*: Eisuk
 e Koya is a Reader in Behavioural Neuroscience at the School of Psychology
  at the University of Sussex\, as well as a visiting investigator at Scrip
 ps Research in San Diego (USA). He obtained his BA in Neurobiology at the 
 University of California at Berkeley. Afterwards\, he obtained his PhD und
 er the mentorship of Profs. Taco De Vries and Guus Smit at the Vrije Unive
 rsiteit Amsterdam (The Netherlands)\, where he investigated immediate earl
 y gene (IEG) expression patterns in corticostriatal brain areas during cue
 -induced drug and natural reward seeking behaviours using real-time quanti
 tative PCR. \n\nHe then conducted his post-doctoral research at the Nation
 al Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Programme (NIDA IRP\, Balti
 more\, USA) under the mentorship of Drs. Yavin Shaham\, Bruce Hope\, and C
 arl Lupica. During this time\, he investigated how sparse sets of activate
 d neurons or 'neuronal ensembles' mediated learned associations between dr
 ug effects and the drug administration context and underwent unique synapt
 ic adaptations. In 2012\, he joined the School of Psychology as a Lecturer
  and was promoted to Reader (USA equivalent of associate professor) in 201
 8. Since 2015\, he has been a visiting investigator at Dr. Nobuyoshi Suto
 ’s laboratory at Scripps Research. His laboratory investigates how neuro
 nal ensembles in motivationally-relevant brain areas such as the nucleus a
 ccumbens and prefrontal cortex\, establish\, maintain\, and update appetit
 ive associations between food rewards and the cues that predict their avai
 lability. In particular\, his lab is interested in how neuronal ensembles 
 are recruited and undergo physiological (e.g. excitability) alterations du
 ring appetitive learning. To reveal these ensemble mechanisms\, our lab ut
 ilises a range of neuroscientific tools such as in vivo fibre photometry a
 nd 2-P imaging\, ex vivo electrophysiology and histological approaches.\n\
 n*Abstract:* Both humans and animals need to respond appropriately to cues
  that predict the availability of food for nutrient procurement. For examp
 le\, one may follow a sign leading to a fast food restaurant when driving 
 while hungry or wild mice may follow sweet smells that lead them towards f
 ragrant ripe berries. Such reactive actions to cues (‘cue reactivity’)
  depend on the brain’s ability to store and retrieve learned association
 s about food and its predictive cues. Such ‘food-cue’ associations for
 m during Pavlovian conditioning. Although the brain areas implicated in fo
 od-cue associations have been well-characterised\, the specific neuronal p
 opulations that help encode these associations have not been fully elucida
 ted yet. \n\nAnimal research has allowed us to obtain better insight of th
 e precise mechanisms behind how these associations are formed and establis
 hed at the level individual neurons such as their activity patterns. They 
 also allow the characterisation of how individual neurons undergo physiolo
 gical changes such as changes in their electrical or ‘excitability’ pr
 operties\, which are thought to be critical for information storage and re
 trieval. We and others have shown that cue-reward associations are encoded
  in specific patterns of activity from a population of sparsely distribute
 d neurons\, called ‘neuronal ensembles’ in brain areas implicated in r
 eward\, such as the nucleus accumbens. Here\, I will discuss how factors s
 uch as the strength of food-cue associations and the rewarding value of fo
 od impact cue-evoked food-seeking and the underlying activity patterns and
  excitability properties of neuronal ensembles in the nucleus accumbens. \
 n\n
LOCATION:Ground Floor Lecture Theatre\, Department of  Psychology
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR