Every thought, every idea, every memory, every decision, and every action we make, arises from the activity of neurons in our brains. Of all brain structures, the neocortex, is arguably the most critical structure that makes us human, however “Our ignorance is such that, even today, to a question so important and yet so simple as the general connections of nerve cells, science does not have an answer for the more or less probable hypotheses”(Ramon y Cajal, 1891). My current research focus on describing the wiring diagram of the mouse primary visual cortex and investigating the computations implemented by its architecture. I am interested in how conserved is the architecture over different cortical areas and species, how general are its operations and how these operations finally translate to behavior. To answer these questions we are using state of the art light and electron microscopy techniques combined with the power of genetics of the mouse animal model.

Expertise

• Neuroanatomy
• in vivo electrophysiology
• Light and electron correlated microscopy

Research Programs

• Neural Coding