--- _id: '12531' abstract: - lang: eng text: "All visual experiences of the vertebrates begin with light being converted into electrical signals\r\nby the eye retina. Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are the neurons of the innermost layer of the\r\nmammal retina, and they transmit visual information to the rest of the brain.\r\nIt has been shown that RGCs vary in their morphology and genetic profiles, moreover they can\r\nbe unambiguously grouped into subtypes that share the same morphological and/or molecular\r\nproperties. However, in terms of RGCs function, it remains unclear how many distinct types\r\nthere are and what response properties their typology relies on. Even given the recent studies\r\nthat successfully classified RGCs in a patch of the retina [1] and in scotopic conditions [2], the\r\nquestion remains whether the found subtypes persist across the entire retina.\r\nIn this work, using a novel imaging method, we show that, when sampled from a large portion\r\nof the retina, RGCs can not be clearly divided into functional subtypes. We found that in\r\nphotopic conditions, which implies more prominent natural scene statistic differences across\r\nthe visual field, response properties can be exhibited by cells differently depending on their\r\nlocation in the retina, which leads to formation of a gradient of features rather than distinct\r\nclasses.\r\nThis finding suggests that RGCs follow a global organization across the visual field of the\r\nanimal, adapting each RGC subtype to the requirements imposed by the natural scene statistics." alternative_title: - ISTA Master's Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Kseniia full_name: Kirillova, Kseniia id: 8e3f931e-dc85-11ea-9058-e7b957bf23f0 last_name: Kirillova citation: ama: Kirillova K. Panoramic functional gradients across the mouse retina. 2023. doi:10.15479/at:ista:12531 apa: Kirillova, K. (2023). Panoramic functional gradients across the mouse retina. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:12531 chicago: Kirillova, Kseniia. “Panoramic Functional Gradients across the Mouse Retina.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:12531. ieee: K. Kirillova, “Panoramic functional gradients across the mouse retina,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. ista: Kirillova K. 2023. Panoramic functional gradients across the mouse retina. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Kirillova, Kseniia. Panoramic Functional Gradients across the Mouse Retina. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023, doi:10.15479/at:ista:12531. short: K. Kirillova, Panoramic Functional Gradients across the Mouse Retina, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. date_created: 2023-02-09T07:45:05Z date_published: 2023-02-08T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2024-02-09T23:30:04Z day: '08' ddc: - '570' degree_awarded: MS department: - _id: GradSch - _id: MaJö doi: 10.15479/at:ista:12531 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: 57d8da3a6c749eb1556b7435fe266a5f content_type: application/pdf creator: cchlebak date_created: 2023-02-09T08:03:32Z date_updated: 2024-02-09T23:30:03Z embargo: 2024-02-08 file_id: '12532' file_name: Thesis_Kseniia___ISTA__istaustriathesis_PDF-A.pdf file_size: 8369317 relation: main_file - access_level: closed checksum: 87fb44318e4f9eb9da2ad9ad6ca8e76f content_type: application/x-zip-compressed creator: cchlebak date_created: 2023-02-10T09:32:06Z date_updated: 2024-02-09T23:30:03Z embargo_to: open_access file_id: '12535' file_name: Thesis Kseniia - ISTA [istaustriathesis]-FINAL.zip file_size: 11204408 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2024-02-09T23:30:03Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '02' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '46' publication_identifier: issn: - 2791-4585 publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria status: public supervisor: - first_name: Maximilian A full_name: Jösch, Maximilian A id: 2BD278E6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Jösch orcid: 0000-0002-3937-1330 title: Panoramic functional gradients across the mouse retina tmp: image: /images/cc_by_nc_sa.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) short: CC BY-NC-SA (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: c635000d-4b10-11ee-a964-aac5a93f6ac1 year: '2023' ... --- _id: '12716' abstract: - lang: eng text: "The process of detecting and evaluating sensory information to guide behaviour is termed perceptual decision-making (PDM), and is critical for the ability of an organism to interact with its external world. Individuals with autism, a neurodevelopmental condition primarily characterised by social and communication difficulties, frequently exhibit altered sensory processing and PDM difficulties are widely reported. Recent technological advancements have pushed forward our understanding of the genetic changes accompanying this condition, however our understanding of how these mutations affect the function of specific neuronal circuits and bring about the corresponding behavioural changes remains limited. Here, we use an innate PDM task, the looming avoidance response (LAR) paradigm, to identify a convergent behavioural abnormality across three molecularly distinct genetic mouse models of autism (Cul3, Setd5 and Ptchd1). Although mutant mice can rapidly detect threatening visual stimuli, their responses are consistently delayed, requiring longer to initiate an appropriate response than their wild-type siblings. Mutant animals show abnormal adaptation in both their stimulus- evoked escape responses and exploratory dynamics following repeated stimulus presentations. Similarly delayed behavioural responses are observed in wild-type animals when faced with more ambiguous threats, suggesting the mutant phenotype could arise from a dysfunction in the flexible control of this PDM process.\r\nOur knowledge of the core neuronal circuitry mediating the LAR facilitated a detailed dissection of the neuronal mechanisms underlying the behavioural impairment. In vivo extracellular recording revealed that visual responses were unaffected within a key brain region for the rapid processing of visual threats, the superior colliculus (SC), indicating that the behavioural delay was unlikely to originate from sensory impairments. Delayed behavioural responses were recapitulated in the Setd5 model following optogenetic stimulation of the excitatory output neurons of the SC, which are known to mediate escape initiation through the activation of cells in the underlying dorsal periaqueductal grey (dPAG). In vitro patch-clamp recordings of dPAG cells uncovered a stark hypoexcitability phenotype in two out of the three genetic models investigated (Setd5 and Ptchd1), that in Setd5, is mediated by the misregulation of voltage-gated potassium channels. Overall, our results show that the ability to use visual information to drive efficient escape responses is impaired in three diverse genetic mouse models of autism and that, in one of the models studied, this behavioural delay likely originates from differences in the intrinsic excitability of a key subcortical node, the dPAG. Furthermore, this work showcases the use of an innate behavioural paradigm to mechanistically dissect PDM processes in autism." acknowledged_ssus: - _id: PreCl - _id: Bio - _id: LifeSc - _id: M-Shop - _id: CampIT alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Laura full_name: Burnett, Laura id: 3B717F68-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Burnett orcid: 0000-0002-8937-410X citation: ama: Burnett L. To flee, or not to flee? Using innate defensive behaviours to investigate rapid perceptual decision-making through subcortical circuits in mouse models of autism. 2023. doi:10.15479/at:ista:12716 apa: Burnett, L. (2023). To flee, or not to flee? Using innate defensive behaviours to investigate rapid perceptual decision-making through subcortical circuits in mouse models of autism. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:12716 chicago: Burnett, Laura. “To Flee, or Not to Flee? Using Innate Defensive Behaviours to Investigate Rapid Perceptual Decision-Making through Subcortical Circuits in Mouse Models of Autism.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:12716. ieee: L. Burnett, “To flee, or not to flee? Using innate defensive behaviours to investigate rapid perceptual decision-making through subcortical circuits in mouse models of autism,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. ista: Burnett L. 2023. To flee, or not to flee? Using innate defensive behaviours to investigate rapid perceptual decision-making through subcortical circuits in mouse models of autism. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Burnett, Laura. To Flee, or Not to Flee? Using Innate Defensive Behaviours to Investigate Rapid Perceptual Decision-Making through Subcortical Circuits in Mouse Models of Autism. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023, doi:10.15479/at:ista:12716. short: L. Burnett, To Flee, or Not to Flee? Using Innate Defensive Behaviours to Investigate Rapid Perceptual Decision-Making through Subcortical Circuits in Mouse Models of Autism, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. date_created: 2023-03-08T15:19:45Z date_published: 2023-03-10T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2023-04-05T10:59:04Z day: '10' ddc: - '599' - '573' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: MaJö doi: 10.15479/at:ista:12716 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 6c6d9cc2c4cdacb74e6b1047a34d7332 content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document creator: lburnett date_created: 2023-03-08T15:08:46Z date_updated: 2023-03-08T15:08:46Z file_id: '12717' file_name: Burnett_Thesis_2023.docx file_size: 23029260 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: cebc77705288bf4382db9b3541483cd0 content_type: application/pdf creator: lburnett date_created: 2023-03-08T15:08:46Z date_updated: 2023-03-08T15:08:46Z file_id: '12718' file_name: Burnett_Thesis_2023_pdfA.pdf file_size: 11959869 relation: main_file success: 1 file_date_updated: 2023-03-08T15:08:46Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '03' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '178' project: - _id: 2634E9D2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '756502' name: Circuits of Visual Attention publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria status: public supervisor: - first_name: Maximilian A full_name: Jösch, Maximilian A id: 2BD278E6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Jösch orcid: 0000-0002-3937-1330 title: To flee, or not to flee? Using innate defensive behaviours to investigate rapid perceptual decision-making through subcortical circuits in mouse models of autism type: dissertation user_id: 8b945eb4-e2f2-11eb-945a-df72226e66a9 year: '2023' ... --- _id: '12826' abstract: - lang: eng text: "During navigation, animals can infer the structure of the environment by computing the optic flow cues elicited by their own movements, and subsequently use this information to instruct proper locomotor actions. These computations require a panoramic assessment of the visual environment in order to disambiguate similar sensory experiences that may require distinct behavioral responses. The estimation of the global motion patterns is therefore essential for successful navigation. Yet, our understanding of the algorithms and implementations that enable coherent panoramic visual perception remains scarce. Here I pursue this problem by dissecting the functional aspects of interneuronal communication in the lobula plate tangential cell network in Drosophila melanogaster. The results presented in the thesis demonstrate that the basis for effective interpretation of the optic flow in this circuit are stereotyped synaptic connections that mediate the formation of distinct subnetworks, each extracting a particular pattern of global motion. \r\nFirstly, I show that gap junctions are essential for a correct interpretation of binocular motion cues by horizontal motion-sensitive cells. HS cells form electrical synapses with contralateral H2 neurons that are involved in detecting yaw rotation and translation. I developed an FlpStop-mediated mutant of a gap junction protein ShakB that disrupts these electrical synapses. While the loss of electrical synapses does not affect the tuning of the direction selectivity in HS neurons, it severely alters their sensitivity to horizontal motion in the contralateral side. These physiological changes result in an inappropriate integration of binocular motion cues in walking animals. While wild-type flies form a binocular perception of visual motion by non-linear integration of monocular optic flow cues, the mutant flies sum the monocular inputs linearly. These results indicate that rather than averaging signals in neighboring neurons, gap-junctions operate in conjunction with chemical synapses to mediate complex non-linear optic flow computations.\r\nSecondly, I show that stochastic manipulation of neuronal activity in the lobula plate tangential cell network is a powerful approach to study the neuronal implementation of optic flow-based navigation in flies. Tangential neurons form multiple subnetworks, each mediating course-stabilizing response to a particular global pattern of visual motion. Application of genetic mosaic techniques can provide sparse optogenetic activation of HS cells in numerous combinations. These distinct combinations of activated neurons drive an array of distinct behavioral responses, providing important insights into how visuomotor transformation is performed in the lobula plate tangential cell network. This approach can be complemented by stochastic silencing of tangential neurons, enabling direct assessment of the functional role of individual tangential neurons in the processing of specific visual motion patterns.\r\n\tTaken together, the findings presented in this thesis suggest that establishing specific activity patterns of tangential cells via stereotyped synaptic connectivity is a key to efficient optic flow-based navigation in Drosophila melanogaster." acknowledged_ssus: - _id: Bio - _id: LifeSc alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Victoria full_name: Pokusaeva, Victoria id: 3184041C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Pokusaeva orcid: 0000-0001-7660-444X citation: ama: Pokusaeva V. Neural control of optic flow-based navigation in Drosophila melanogaster. 2023. doi:10.15479/at:ista:12826 apa: Pokusaeva, V. (2023). Neural control of optic flow-based navigation in Drosophila melanogaster. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:12826 chicago: Pokusaeva, Victoria. “Neural Control of Optic Flow-Based Navigation in Drosophila Melanogaster.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:12826. ieee: V. Pokusaeva, “Neural control of optic flow-based navigation in Drosophila melanogaster,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. ista: Pokusaeva V. 2023. Neural control of optic flow-based navigation in Drosophila melanogaster. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Pokusaeva, Victoria. Neural Control of Optic Flow-Based Navigation in Drosophila Melanogaster. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023, doi:10.15479/at:ista:12826. short: V. Pokusaeva, Neural Control of Optic Flow-Based Navigation in Drosophila Melanogaster, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. date_created: 2023-04-14T14:56:04Z date_published: 2023-04-18T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2023-06-23T09:47:36Z day: '18' ddc: - '570' - '571' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: MaJö - _id: GradSch doi: 10.15479/at:ista:12826 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 5f589a9af025f7eeebfd0c186209913e content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document creator: vpokusae date_created: 2023-04-20T09:14:38Z date_updated: 2023-04-20T09:26:51Z file_id: '12857' file_name: Thesis_Pokusaeva.docx file_size: 14507243 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: bbeed76db45a996b4c91a9abe12ce0ec content_type: application/pdf creator: vpokusae date_created: 2023-04-20T09:14:44Z date_updated: 2023-04-20T09:14:44Z file_id: '12858' file_name: Thesis_Pokusaeva.pdf file_size: 10090711 relation: main_file success: 1 file_date_updated: 2023-04-20T09:26:51Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '04' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '106' project: - _id: 2564DBCA-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '665385' name: International IST Doctoral Program publication_identifier: issn: - 2663 - 337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria status: public supervisor: - first_name: Maximilian A full_name: Jösch, Maximilian A id: 2BD278E6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Jösch orcid: 0000-0002-3937-1330 title: Neural control of optic flow-based navigation in Drosophila melanogaster tmp: image: /images/cc_by.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) short: CC BY (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: 8b945eb4-e2f2-11eb-945a-df72226e66a9 year: '2023' ...