Speaker: Eric Yttri, PhD
Eberly Family Associate Professor, Carnegie Mellon University
Abstract: How do the multiple nodes of the motor system work together to create behavior? To this end we have developed 3D-nanoprinted electrode arrays that enable fully customizable recordings across the brain. In tandem, we have developed B-SOiD, an unsupervised approach to discovering and identifying spontaneous behaviors. We then continuously recorded neural activity across all layers of motor cortex, dorsal and ventral striatum concurrently with 24/7 video - discovering robust and distinct neural representations of the naturalistic behaviors, their kinematics, and their state transitions. Across the areas we recorded, the majority of neurons in corticostriatal circuit modulated their activity at the onset of the ML-derived behaviors. Moreover, we were able to reliably decode and predict all of the 16 behaviors from neural activity, opening the potential for advances in BCIs representing a wide array of actions.
About the Speaker: Dr Eric Yttri is the Eberly Family Development Chair at Carnegie Mellon University. After studying sensorimotor transformations and stroke in parietal cortex at Washington University, he pursued a postdoc at Janelia Research Campus, manipulating basal ganglia pathways to induce learning and motor effects. Since starting his lab in 2017, his interests have broadened into the development of 3D-nanoprinted electrodes and neural applications of machine learning - combining many of these aspects into the study of natural behavior and its neural correlates. He is the recipient of the Kaufman, Whitehall, and Brain Research Foundation awards - and recently stepped down as the Chair of the Allen Institute Next Generation Leaders advisory council.