Aaron Wilber
Contact Information
Interest
The Wilber Lab focuses on two key research areas: 1) Understanding the brain activity patterns that allow us to derive a sense of location from a body-centered view of the world, and examining how these brain systems participate in learning and memory. A critical role of the brain networks studied in the Wilber Lab is to update our internal map of the environment when there is a mismatch between internal perception and external cues—such as the experience of reorienting after being lost. 2) Investigating how normal neural mechanisms are disrupted by memory and mental disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. These complementary research tracks allow insights into both the diseased and the healthy brain, with each informing the other.
Current Research
To accomplish these goals, the lab uses custom 3D-printed tetrode recording arrays and silicon neural probes (Cambridge Neurotech and Neuropixels) to monitor many single cells across multiple brain regions. These recordings are complemented by population-level neural activity measurements (local field potentials) and circuit-level manipulations using optogenetics. The lab also utilizes circuit-specific interventions, semi-automated density-based analyses of disease markers and brain connectivity, and mouse models of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Experiments are conducted on rodents navigating either freely or in virtual environments.
The lab investigates fundamental questions such as:
- How do we derive a sense of location from a body-centered perspective of the world?
- How are brain circuits involved in spatial learning and memory altered by neurological and psychiatric conditions?
- Can circuit-specific manipulations mimic disease-related impairments in neural networks?
- What role do sleep-related learning activity patterns play in spatial learning and memory?
- Can sleep facilitation in the early stages of Alzheimer’s pathophysiology - when sleep depth is reduced but otherwise intact - help mitigate disease progression?