The Wagenaar Lab studies the neuronal basis of sensory processing and sensory-guided behavior, with a specific focus on crossmodal sensory integration in the leech and on functional and anatomical circuit mapping. The relatively simple nervous system of the European medicinal leech is perfectly suited to develop insights about how the activity of all the cells in a nervous system together produce individual behaviors from overlapping functional networks, a phenomenon that—at a much larger scale and undoubtedly with many complexities added—is also crucial to human brain function.
In the leech, we can:
- Use voltage-sensitive dyes (VSDs) to record simultaneously from the vast majority of neurons in a functional unit of the nervous system during production of several behaviors (including swimming, crawling, and escape responses);
- Use serial blockface scanning electron microscopy (SBEM) to determine connectivity between the neurons in this functional unit;
- Combine these imaging modalities to gain insight into the relationship between structural elements such as circuit motifs and the behavioral functionality of neuronal networks.
Because the neuronal topography within the leech nervous system is well preserved across animals, it is possible to reliably localize specifically identified neurons across multiple animals and test hypotheses generated by the VSD and SBEM experiments using detailed electrophysiology.
In addition to leading his research lab, Dr. Wagenaar also directs the Neurotechnology Center, a resource for the Caltech neuroscience community aimed at collaborative development of novel technologies as well as adaptation of existing technologies for new applications in the realms of microscopy, electrophysiology, and more.
Publications
- Trautmann, Eric M.;Hesse, Janis K. et al. (2023) Large-scale brain-wide neural recording in nonhuman primates
- Kahan, Anat;Greenbaum, Alon et al. (2021) Light-guided sectioning for precise in situ localization and tissue interface analysis for brain-implanted optical fibers and GRIN lensesCell Reports
- Andreev, Andrey;Vasnarungruengkul, Pavee et al. (2021) Open-Source Thermometer, Temperature Controller, and Light Meter for Use in Animal Facilities and During Experiments
- Cho, Jounhong Ryan;Chen, Xinhong et al. (2021) Dorsal Raphe Dopamine Neurons Signal Motivational Salience Dependent on Internal State, Expectation, and Behavioral ContextJournal of Neuroscience
- Ashaber, Mária;Tomina, Yusuke et al. (2021) Anatomy and activity patterns in a multifunctional motor neuron and its surrounding circuitseLife
- Kennedy, Ann;Kunwar, Prabhat S. et al. (2020) Stimulus-specific hypothalamic encoding of a persistent defensive stateNature
- He, Yun;Shi, Junhui et al. (2020) Label-free imaging of lipid-rich biological tissues by mid-infrared photoacoustic microscopyJournal of Biomedical Optics
- Stowasser, Annette;Stahl, Aaron et al. (2019) Electrophysiology and transcriptomics reveal two photoreceptor classes and complex visual integration in Hirudo verbanaJournal of Experimental Biology
- Arbabi, Ehsan;Li, Jiaqi et al. (2019) Double-wavelength metasurface objective lens for two-photon microscopy (Conference Presentation)
- Arbabi, Ehsan;Li, Jiaqi et al. (2018) Two-photon microscopy with a double-wavelength metasurface objective lensNano Letters