We still don’t know what properties of the brain promote and limit the ability to learn although behaviorally, we observe individual, sex, and age differences in the long-term effects of experience.
Memory formation requires that two major levels of neurobiology are coordinated 1) the presence of a subset of cells, or "ensemble," that are capable of participating in memory storage and 2) the triggering of appropriate molecular and genomic changes in response to experience. The challenges of placing molecular underpinnings of neural plasticity within cell populations that are engaged in memory formation are compounded by the need to behaviorally link cellular and molecular brain properties to the ability to learn.
In the London Lab, we take advantage of a model system that has a Critical Period for sensory learning, the zebra finch songbird, to discover how epigenetic mechanisms, genomic regulation, molecular signaling, and cell subtypes contribute to the ability to learn complex natural behaviors. Because Critical Periods define restricted phases in development when an experience is optimally encoded in ways that have long-term consequences on brain function and behavioral patterns, we can meaningfully link neural properties before, during, and after the Critical Period to behavioral outcomes.
Univ IL, Urbana-Champaign
Urbana, IL
postdoc - genomics, neuroscience
2011
UCLA
Los Angeles, CA
PhD - neuroscience
2005
Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT
BA - biology & psychology
1997
Listen and learn.
Listen and learn. Elife. 2023 06 07; 12.
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Towards complete and error-free genome assemblies of all vertebrate species.
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Experience selectively alters functional connectivity within a neural network to predict learned behavior in juvenile songbirds.
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Gene manipulation to test links between genome, brain and behavior in developing songbirds: a test case.
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Inhibitory cell populations depend on age, sex, and prior experience across a neural network for Critical Period learning.
Inhibitory cell populations depend on age, sex, and prior experience across a neural network for Critical Period learning. Sci Rep. 2019 12 27; 9(1):19867.
PMID: 31882750
An Acoustic Password Enhances Auditory Learning in Juvenile Brood Parasitic Cowbirds.
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The variability of song variability in zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) populations.
The variability of song variability in zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) populations. R Soc Open Sci. 2019 May; 6(5):190273.
PMID: 31218064
The promise of environmental neuroscience.
The promise of environmental neuroscience. Nat Hum Behav. 2019 05; 3(5):414-417.
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Interhemispheric functional connectivity in the zebra finch brain, absent the corpus callosum in normal ontogeny.
Interhemispheric functional connectivity in the zebra finch brain, absent the corpus callosum in normal ontogeny. Neuroimage. 2019 07 15; 195:113-127.
PMID: 30940612
Epigenetic regulation of transcriptional plasticity associated with developmental song learning.
Epigenetic regulation of transcriptional plasticity associated with developmental song learning. Proc Biol Sci. 2018 05 16; 285(1878).
PMID: 29720411