Canadian Neuroscience Seminars – Post-doc series October 3, 2024: Diana Mitchell & Ashley Schormans

Speaker: Ashley Schormans, University of Western Ontario
Title: The Neural Basis of Audiovisual Temporal Processing and Perception: From Cortical Neurons to Behavioural Performance

Bio: Ashley Schormans is a Postdoctoral Associate and BrainsCAN Postdoctoral Fellow at Western University with Dr. Brian Allman. She obtained her PhD in Anatomy and Cell Biology at Western University, where her research focused on investigating cortical crossmodal plasticity following adult-onset noise-induced hearing loss as well as developing novel rodent models of audiovisual temporal perception. As a Postdoctoral Associate she has focused on investigating the specific role of parvalbumin (PV) interneurons within the multisensory cortex on audiovisual processing and temporal perception using a translational behavioural task with transgenic rats, in combination with optogenetics and in vivo electrophysiology. Additionally, she is interested in identifying the specific contribution of top-down modulation from higher-order brain regions on the neural activity in the multisensory cortex, and how this affects audiovisual temporal perception. Outside the lab, she enjoys playing soccer with friends, taking her dog for long walks around London and baking treats for her lab members.

Speaker: Diana Mitchell, Université de Montréal
Title: Deficits in learning linked to altered input/output properties of layer 5 pyramidal neurons in a mouse model of Fragile X Syndrome

Bio: Dr. Diana Mitchell is Postdoctoral Fellow in the Araya Neuro Lab at the Azrieli CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center. She obtained her PhD in Physiology at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Kathleen Cullen, investigating the coding strategies used by primate vestibular pathways. Her thesis advances our understanding of how early vestibular pathways process self-motion signals with important implications for guiding the development of stimulation protocols used by vestibular implants. During her doctoral studies, she became increasingly interested in understanding how sensory inputs are processed at the level of single neurons and synapses. Her current research aims to uncover changes in synaptic processing and integration in the cortex of a mouse model of Fragile X syndrome at the level of individual neurons and link those to alterations in circuit activity and behavioral performance.  The results from her studies challenge the traditional view that Fragile X syndrome is characterized by sensory hypersensitivity, proposing instead a hyposensitivity of sensory inputs and hypersensitivity of predictive inputs onto cortical neurons. In her free time, she enjoys running after her two young children.

Information about Zoom :

Thursday 3rd of October 3:00 PM (EST)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/95281489942?pwd=IFfEzL96lVnoaquHCbPabhldo7UTU6.1

Meeting ID: 952 8148 9942
Passcode: 400510