Neurobiology

Sandeep Robert Datta, M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Neurobiology

Datta Lab Website: http://www.dattalab.org

The goal of our research is to address a core problem in neurobiology — how is the brain wired to extract information from the environment and convert that information into action? Our laboratory seeks to answer this question by studying the mammalian olfactory system, which affords most animals the ability to detect and appropriately respond to crucial environmental cues. The central hypothesis of our laboratory is that the neural circuits that trigger fixed action pattern behaviors in response to ethologically-relevant odors (such as those from food, predators and mates) are both anatomically and genetically stereotyped; we plan to leverage the invariance of this specific type of neural circuit to understand how odor inputs are coupled to behavioral output centers in higher brain, which in turn will reveal principles used by genes to specify behaviors.

To address these questions we take advantage of an interdisciplinary toolkit that includes both well-established techniques — such as mouse genetics and behavioral analysis — and emerging approaches — such as two-photon laser scanning microscopy and optogenetics. These tools allow us to identify specific purified odorants that drive genetically-programmed behaviors, to define peripheral receptors for these odorants, and to characterize the functional architecture of the neural circuits that translate the activation of a specific receptor in the nose into a particular behavioral response. These circuits include well-characterized components, such as the olfactory epithelium and olfactory bulb, which trigger activity in parts of the mammalian brain whose function is just now beginning to be explored, such as the piriform cortex, the cortical amygdala and olfactory tubercle. Because these hardwired olfactory circuits do not exist in isolation but as part of a complex neural mechanism capable of associative learning and top-down modulation, we also plan to explore how the specific wiring we characterize is impinged upon by neural processes that reflect experience and internal state. Finally, the areas of the cortex implicated in generating innate odor-driven behaviors play potentially important roles in the manifestation of neuropathologies ranging from panic disorder to neurodegeneration. Identifying and characterizing the circuitry that triggers innate odor-driven behaviors will lead to insight into these serious diseases, as well as other disorders related to behavioral valence and motivation.