Hiroyuki Kato
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Neuroscience
Sound reaches the brain's cortex through more than one route, and the brain must merge these streams into a single, coherent perception. In the auditory system, the "lemniscal" (primary) pathway is thought to relay sound quickly and reliably.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Physiology
Biology
- Topics
auditory cortex
auditory thalamus
thalamocortical circuits
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2027
What they work on
- Map the fast non-lemniscal auditory pathway from the cochlear nucleus through the thalamus to cortical layer 6 in mice, using anatomical tracing and in vivo single-unit recordings.
- Measure how layer 6–targeting thalamic inputs affect different cortical cell types, using targeted whole-cell recordings in brain slices while activating those inputs.
- Test how fast non-lemniscal input to layer 6 shapes the tuning and timing precision of cortical sound responses, using optogenetic manipulation during unit recordings in mice performing sound-guided behaviors.
More about the research
The "non-lemniscal" (secondary) pathway has been described as a slower route that blends sound with other senses. Whether the secondary route also drives fast cortical responses, and how the two routes interact, is still debated.
Why it matters
The paired thalamic inputs to cortical layers 4 and 6 are conserved across the senses. Because of this, the findings could reveal general rules for how the cortex integrates sensory information. Understanding these circuits could point toward targeted treatments for hearing disorders and other sensory integration problems.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Maria Geffen
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Neuroscience
Train mice by operant conditioning to detect or discriminate target sounds in background noise, and vary noise contrast before each target to test how adaptation to the background interacts with target detection.
Hey-Kyoung Lee
Johns Hopkins University, MD·Neuroscience
Determine how early- and late-onset visual deprivation changes three corticothalamic feedback pathways from auditory cortex (Ntsr1, Cplx3/Drd1a and Rbp4 neurons) in adult mice, using optogenetics.
Gordon M Shepherd
Northwestern University, IL·Neuroscience
Map direct and multi-step connections from secondary motor cortex (M2) to forelimb primary motor cortex (M1) in mouse brain slices, using in vivo viral labeling, optogenetic stimulation and whole-cell recordings.
The school
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: 72 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 523 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.