Towards the identification of the brain-wide activity motifs that cause the expression of instincts and emotions

Innate behaviors are essential for the survival of animals, including humans, and their maladaptive expression (e.g., uncontrolled aggression or generalized anxiety) carries a high emotional and socioeconomic burden on families and society.

To elucidate how the brain orchestrates these behaviors, it is essential to understand how mesoscale (across brain regions) neural activity patterns control them.

A prime brain center known to regulate innate behaviors, the hypothalamus, has remained inaccessible to in vivo mesoscale recordings with single-unit resolution in freely moving animals.

The research proposed here expands on the use of a technology I custom-designed during my postdoctoral work, which breaks this methodological barrier.

Here, using this approach, I will (1) characterize behavior-specific mesoscale neural activity motifs in the hypothalamus across a multitude of innate behaviors, (2) identify how the changes of activity patterns relate to maladaptive expressions of aggression or fear, (3) test whether such mesoscale neural activity motifs have a causal role in behavior, and (4) identify whether they are unique or shared with other (corticolimbic) brain regions.

Using state-of-the-art behavioral, neural recording, and perturbation approaches, this project will reveal fundamental neural principles that guide the expression of physiological and maladaptive behaviors. The discussed approach has groundbreaking potential for understanding and treating mental disorders.