My research is aimed at understanding the neuronal basis of brain functioning, with a focus on sensory systems. Sensory systems provide a unique possibility to study operation of neurons and neural circuits in a system with well-defined structure and specific functions. Comparison of processing of different sensory modalities facilitates understanding of general principles of neuronal operations. Nerve cells are on the one hand elementary units, of which neuronal circuitry is built. On the other hand, each neuron is itself a complex entity, which processes biochemical and electrical information impinging at its inputs. These multiple facets of functional roles of nerve cells necessitate the use of combined approaches, which deal with experimental objects of different levels of complexity: whole brain, neurons, and synaptic connections. The combination of in vivo, in vitro and theoretical techniques is essential for my research. While studying nerve cells, synapses and their specific properties, we are always trying to understand how these elements are embedded in the system and what role(s) are they playing in the functioning of the whole system.
My research fields include
– synaptic transmission and plasticity in the neocortex,
– electrophysiology of nerve cells,
– signal processing and encoding in cortical neurons,
– neurophysiology of the visual system,
– origin of slow oscillation and
– brain-state related signal processing.