Neurobiology of the chemical senses; olfactory system.
The research in this laboratory concerns the functional organization of the olfactory epithelium and olfactory bulb in the rat and mouse. We are mapping the distribution of olfactory epithelium sensitivity to odorants of particular chemical classes and are interested in how this distribution may participate in the neural interpretation of olfactory stimuli. We also study the synaptic organization of the olfactory bulb, the first order synapse of the olfactory receptor axons. We have described different groups of projection cells and inhibitory interneurons that have distinct physiological properties as well as anatomical connections. We use intracellular recording and dye marking to test how these different cell groups participate in sensory coding. This work is motivated in part by comparison to the anatomical and physiological properties of other sensory systems.
