I received my PhD from the Department of Electrical Engineering
in the Indian Institute
of Science, Bangalore, India, in 2002. After my
postdoctoral training at the National Centre for Biological
Sciences, Bangalore, India, I joined
Prof. Daniel Johnston's laboratory, as a postdoctoral fellow,
in January 2005.
My current research interests are in the activity-dependent modulation of ion channels and the physiological consequences of such modulations. Specifically, I am interested in the activity-dependent plasticity of the resonance frequency map within the CA1 pyramidal neuron.
Resonance frequency map within a neuron
(Click on image for an enlarged version)
Individual hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons exhibit intrinsic resonance in the theta frequency range. With increasing distance from the soma, adjacent compartments along the somato-apical trunk of these neurons exhibit progressively higher resonance frequencies in an orderly progression. In the picture above, this topographic map within a neuron is color coded, with reddish hues representing higher resonance frequencies. Further, this map undergoes spatially widespread plasticity when these neurons are subjected to an activity-dependent protocol associated with a well-known synaptic plasticity mechanism called long-term potentiation. A single neuron at the center of the population is representative of this plasticity, with a stronger reddish hue along the entire somato-apical trunk representing the spatially widespread nature of this plasticity (Narayanan and Johnston, Neuron, 56(6), 2007).
My current research interests are in the activity-dependent modulation of ion channels and the physiological consequences of such modulations. Specifically, I am interested in the activity-dependent plasticity of the resonance frequency map within the CA1 pyramidal neuron.
Resonance frequency map within a neuron
(Click on image for an enlarged version)
Individual hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons exhibit intrinsic resonance in the theta frequency range. With increasing distance from the soma, adjacent compartments along the somato-apical trunk of these neurons exhibit progressively higher resonance frequencies in an orderly progression. In the picture above, this topographic map within a neuron is color coded, with reddish hues representing higher resonance frequencies. Further, this map undergoes spatially widespread plasticity when these neurons are subjected to an activity-dependent protocol associated with a well-known synaptic plasticity mechanism called long-term potentiation. A single neuron at the center of the population is representative of this plasticity, with a stronger reddish hue along the entire somato-apical trunk representing the spatially widespread nature of this plasticity (Narayanan and Johnston, Neuron, 56(6), 2007).