Master’s Thesis Opportunity Experimental Neuroscience: Investigating Cortical Plasticity with Patch-Clamp

Learning and memory depend on changes in the strength of connections between neurons. In cortical pyramidal neurons, many long-range inputs arrive at apical dendrites, far from the cell body. How these distant signals contribute to synaptic plasticity remains an important open question. Strong dendritic depolarisations, including plateau potentials, may provide a mechanism linking distant synaptic input to neuronal output. Their effects may depend on input timing and inhibitory control by local interneurons. This thesis is part of our research on single-cell computations in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). In this project you will first develop hands-on expertise in slice electrophysiology and related experimental methods, then pursue one clearly defined subproject depending on technical progress and the status of ongoing experiments