Uncovering the wiring rules and variations in the brain using barcoded connectomics

In the brain, neurons with diverse morphology and gene expression are wired into complex neural circuits. These circuits are specialized across species to enable behaviors best suited to each animal's ecological niche. Uncovering the wiring rules of diverse neuron types and how these rules adapt across species provides a foundation for understanding how human brains support distinctly human abilities, such as complex cognition and social reasoning. However, mapping and comparing circuit wiring across species at single-cell resolution remains a tremendous challenge. My lab addresses this challenge by developing in situ sequencing and barcoded connectomics tools. These tools are scalable to brain-wide interrogation across populations, sufficiently low-cost to be deployed by individual labs, and reveal molecular and circuit variations with unprecedented detail. In this talk, I will provide an overview of the principles of barcoded connectomics techniques, followed by two case studies in which we use these techniques to reveal how the visual cortex and thalamus develop and adapt from rodents to primates.

Learning Objectives:

1. Explain why barcoded connectomics has specific pros and cons compared to conventional approaches

2. Discuss how single-cell circuit mapping can inform circuit adaptation across psecies

3. Break down arguments for and against conserved wiring rules from rodents to primates