Studying tactile feature encoding in the somatosensory cortex for optimizing a closed-loop brain-machine interface in mice, by Daniel Shulz

Abstract Studying tactile feature encoding in the somatosensory cortex for optimizing a closed-loop brain-machine interface in mice

Tactile information is acquired and processed in the brain through concerted interactions between movement and sensation. We study neuronal processes responsible for the coding of sensorimotor information in the barrel cortex of rodents by using a comprehensive approach including electrophysiological, imaging, optogenetic and behavioral strategies. We use this knowledge to optimize the sensory feedback injected to the brain for improving the motor control of a brain machine interface.

Short CV

Daniel Shulz is Director of Research 1^st class CNRS in Sensory-motor integration and Plasticity lab (PI). He is heading the Department of Integrative and computational neuroscience in Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience.

“I obtained my Bachelor of Science degree at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, a Master degree in Medical Sciences and Neurobiology at the Hadassah School of Medicine in Jerusalem, and a Ph.D. in Neurosciences at Paris-Sud University in Orsay (France).  Since 2002, I serve as Director of Research at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). I was director of the unit CNRS-UNIC (Gif sur Yvette) and I am presently PI of the Sensori-motor integration and plasticity laboratory, head of the Department of Integrative and Computational Neuroscience and member of the Steering committee of the Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience in Saclay (France). I teach Sensory physiology at several French universities and Institutes (Université de Paris-Saclay, Université de Paris Diderot, ENS Paris, ENS Paris-Saclay, CentraleSupélec). I was invited professor at UCSD (USA) and at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel). I am an honorary member of the Society of Neuroscience of Argentina and in charge of the international relationships with South American countries for the French Société des Neurosciences.

My current research interest includes the study of sensory processing, sensori-motor integration and plasticity and the neural basis of perception and learning (see selected publications below). More specifically, we study neuronal processes responsible for the coding of sensorimotor information by using a comprehensive approach including electrophysiological, imaging, optogenetic and behavioral strategies in rodents. Our general strategy is to probe the brain with controlled natural tactile inputs in vivo, in order to gain understanding of the functional architecture of the system and the plasticity rules that underlie perceptual learning and motor control. Within the framework of closed-loop neuroscience, we explore general rules of sensorimotor adaptation by developing brain-machine interfaces used as a probe for studying the neuronal code and its adaptation by reinforced learning”.

10 Selected publications:

1. Shulz, D.E., Sosnik, R., Ego, V., Haidarliu, S. and Ahissar, E. (2000) A neuronal analogue of State-dependent learning. Nature 403:549-553.
2. Jacob, V., Le Cam, J., Estebanez, L. and Shulz D.E. (2008). Emergent Properties of Tactile Scenes Selectively Activate Barrel Cortex Neurons. Neuron 60:1112–1125.
3. Ego-Stengel, V., Le Cam, J. and Shulz, D.E. (2012) Coding of apparent motion in the thalamic nucleus of the rat vibrissal somatosensory system. Journal of Neuroscience, 32:3339-3351.
4. Estebanez, L., El Boustani, S., Destexhe, A. and Shulz, D.E. (2012) Correlated input reveals coexisting coding schemes in a sensory cortex. Nature Neurosci.15:1691–1699
5. Arduin P.J., Frégnac Y., Shulz D.E. and Ego-Stengel V. (2013). “Master” neurons induced by operant conditioning in rat motor cortex during a brain-machine interface task. Journal of Neuroscience 33:8308-8320.
6. Estebanez, L., Bertherat, J., Shulz, D. E., Bourdieu, L., & Léger, J.-F. (2016). A radial map of multiwhisker correlation selectivity in the rat barrel cortex. Nature Communications, 7: 13528.
7. Kerekes, P., Daret, A., Shulz, D. E. & Ego-Stengel, V. (2017). Bilateral discrimination of tactile patterns without whisking in freely-running rats. Journal of Neuroscience, 37: 0528–17.
8. Vilarchao, M. E., Estebanez, L., Shulz, D. E., & Férézou, I. (2018). Supra-barrel Distribution of Directional Tuning for Global Motion in the Mouse Somatosensory Cortex. Cell Reports 22: 3534– 3547.
9. Goldin, M.A., Harrell, E.R., Estebanez, L. & Shulz, D.E. (2018) Rich spatio-temporal stimulus dynamics unveil sensory specialization in cortical area S2. Nature Communications 9:4053.
10. Harrell, E., Goldin, M., Bathellier, B. & Shulz, D.E. (2020) An elaborate sweep−stick code in rat barrel cortex. Science Advances 6 (38):eabb7189.

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