Author: Sabrina Jones Majors: Physics, Psychology, Spanish

This semester, I have been continuing my research with Dr. Woodrow Shew in the physics department where I have been looking into the network dynamics of neural circuits within mice. This research allows me to relate my physics and psychology majors, exploring both physical properties, such as system dynamics, and the neurological properties of this realm of research that relate heavily to the field of psychology (if only there was a way to tie my Spanish major into this project!).

Over the course of this fall, my project has taken many exciting and unexpected turns, allowing myself and my mentor to become more excited about the prospect of publication in a top-tier journal in the spring. Specifically, though we have been recognizing very interesting network dynamics within the 10,000+ neuron systems that I am analyzing, we were previously unable to replicate these types of interactions within computer models, which is a key component to this type of research. However, through additional review of the relevant literature, we discovered that the type of dynamics that we have been seeing is called a “push-pull circuit,” and with this information, the graduate student that is assisting on my project was able to replicate the type of results that we are seeing in my analysis of the actual data in his computer model.

This project, in which I have been able to see how the neural networks of the brain have firing patterns that show similar dynamics to the behaviors of the animal, where both the behaviors and neuronal firing patterns show scale-free dynamics, meaning that the activities can be represented as a power law distribution based on their size, lends greatly to better understanding how the brain optimally organizes its circuits of neurons to efficiently carry out information processing and control of behaviors. This information will allow for better understanding of how perturbations away from this ideal state can lead to dysfunctions within an animal.

I have been involved in this project for over 1.5 years now. Before joining Dr. Shew’s lab, I knew I had an interest in the intersection of biology and physics; however, I didn’t really know if neuroscience was my thing. Quite honestly, it intimidated me. But, after talking with Dr. Shew and learning more about the research going on in his lab, I knew I couldn’t walk away from the opportunity to join in on it. So, I dove into the project, trying to learn and listen as much as possible. Dr. Shew was eager to teach me and to push me to explore new research articles and expand my coding capabilities. Over the past 18 months, I learned that it was ok to ask questions, even if they seemed trivial, as they were probably valid (and not as simple as they may seem); I learned that linear algebra, in fact, is a useful and ever present branch of mathematics; finally, I learned that I was very fortunate to have stumbled across a computational research project in light of the COVID-19 situation.

Dr. Shew and I are currently working on preparing my research for publication, with there being only a few minor details to flush out before we are ready to submit a manuscript. I also plan on presenting this research at a conference once travel restrictions are lifted, and it is safe to do so. Though this project may be coming to an end, I do not expect that my time working with the Shew lab will. I have gained a great interest in neuroscience through this project and hope to incorporate it into my future career and research.