A Q&A with BME Chair John White
The Neuronal Dynamics Lab, led by Professor John White (Center for Systems Neuroscience, Neurophotonics Center), uses optical imaging, computational, and electrophysiological approaches to understand what factors drive neuronal activity and synchronization within the brain.
Professor White—who will soon be concluding his 10-year tenure as Chair of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University (BU)—talked about two of his projects which explore stimulation strategies for the modulation of memories. He then discussed his path to becoming a neuroscientist, as well as his new hobby mixing craft cocktails.
How would you describe your research and the goals of your lab?
Our goals are to bring novel engineering approaches into the study of the brain to understand neural function, including the way the brain computes, represents, stores, and retrieves information. We are also interested in the way that system breaks or malfunctions, and in what we might be able to do one day to create useful clinical approaches to repair broken brains.
Can you offer some examples of the tools your lab uses for this research?
One approach we use is optogenetics, which is a technique that allows us to control the activity of neurons with light by genetically modifying those neurons to express proteins that are sensitive to specific frequencies of light. We have also developed computer systems that allow us to perform various tasks based on real-time interaction, like delivering precisely timed stimuli to the brain. You can almost think of this technique as virtual reality for neurophysiology experiments. For instance, in some of our experiments, we immerse a real neuron in an artificial neural network that we designed, and by observing the neuron interact with that artificial network, we can begin to understand the principles by which neural networks self-organize.
Can you describe in more detail one of the studies from your lab?
I can describe one study we published that used the optogenetic approach I just mentioned. . . . Our hypothesis was that we could use real-time computing to optogenetically stimulate tagged memory cells in the brain of a mouse, with precision timing, during the recall phase and then study the impact of that stimulus. We found that by stimulating cells during the recall phase in this manner, we could improve the recall ability. These findings, which we published about two years ago, have exciting implications. For instance, imagine a related type of therapy for patients with memory deficits, in which their brain is stimulated in this kind of precisely timed manner to improve their recall ability.