Contact Us: The NCP Lab is located in the 3rd (Zen) Yard in the campus of Beijing Normal University , Beijing, China. Dr. Xiaohui Zhang ; Phone: (010) 5880-4978.
Exp. Tools: We use multiple approaches including electrophysiology (in vivo and slices), optogenetics, cellular imaging, and transgenic mouse models of brain diseases.
Research Direction
- Our research is focused on elucidating corticohippocampal circuitry mechanisms that underlie associative learning, spatial navigation and critical period plasticity of the brain.
Distinct inhibitory circuits drive cortical oscillations at beta and gamma bands, respectively.
Distinct subtypes of inhibitory interneuron are known to shape diverse rhythmic activities in the cortex, but how they interact to orchestrate specific band activity remains largely unknown. In this study, we conducted in vivo recording and manipulating interneuronal spiking activity in the visual cortex of behaving mice and have revealed an explicit neuronal circuitry mechanism by which somatostatin (SOM)- and parvalbumin (PV)-expressing inhibitory interneurons exert differential and cooperative roles in driving cortical beta and gamma oscillations. Our paper was featured in the December issue of Neuron.