10/30/2023
Advanced computational and imaging tools yield insights into learning and decision-making
Cutting-edge optical imaging techniques, advanced computational methods and complex analysis of animal behavior are being employed to better understand - and even manipulate - neurological mechanisms underlying learning and decision-making. Using preclinical mouse models of Alzheimer's disease and autism, Murat Yildirim, PhD, assistant staff in Cleveland Clinic's Department of Neurosciences, is conducting innovative investigations designed to help develop new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for a variety of neurological disorders.
"We are creating and employing tools applying engineering, optics, photonics and behavioral and computational neuroscience to precisely correlate behavioral deficits with abnormalities in brain activity," says Dr. Yildirim. "We are further experimenting with optogenetic techniques on a cellular level to correct behavioral deficits."
While neurotypical people tend to quickly learn the most efficient way to maximize rewards in reversal learning situations, many with neurological disorders - including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and autism - tend to be less adept.
Before joining Cleveland Clinic in 2022, Dr. Yildirim was part of an investigative team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology that used complex statistics to characterize in detail behaviors in reversal learning conditions. The preclinical research was recently described in PLOS Computational Biology.
Read more on Cleveland Clinic ConsultQD.
