Schmidt Lab

Research Topics at Schmidt Lab at ESI 

The researches at the Schmidt Lab aim on to resolve the networks underlying spatial navigation tasks, in particular the interplay of neurons in the hippocampus and medial entorhinal cortex in mammals, at the single cell and single synapse level using cutting-edge 3D electron microscopy methods for large-scale high-resolution mapping of neuronal circuits.

Neuroscientists have been exploring the representation of space in the brain for decades, discovering a wide range of cell types representing different navigational features. The two most prominent of these cell types were identified in the hippocampus and the medial entorhinal cortex: Place-modulated hippocampal neurons were found to be active only when an animal moves through a particular location in space (“place cells”). In the medial entorhinal cortex, cells were reported that respond in a periodic activity pattern as an animal moves through the environment (“grid cells”). 

Both cortical regions were found to be highly interconnected, making it plausible to expect interactions between place and grid cells. Despite extensive anatomical and functional experiments, the circuitry between grid and place cells, and how they shape each other’s activity, and the contribution of local and long-range inhibitory circuits, is still unresolved. The aim of the Schmidt Lab is to map the whole entorhinal-hippocampal circuit in mammals at the level of synapses (i.e. all point-to-point connections between all involved neurons at their chemical synapses). Therefore, the researchers at the Schmidt Lab use cutting-edge 3D electron microscopy methods for large-scale high-resolution mapping of neuronal circuits.