The Berg group put emphasis on strong quantitative approaches in neuroscience by including computational neuroscience. In particular, we believe investigating populations of neurons, networks, as opposed to the single-neuron tradition, is crucial. In turn, this will likely spur therapeutic strategies for individuals with neurological conditions, especially spinal cord injuries. Our key research areas are:
- Neuronal Population activity in the spinal cord and brain using large array electrophysiology.
- Development of novel probe technology
- Classification of network architecture in motor circuits.
- Histological clearing techniques for large sample imaging for network reconstruction
- In vivo, awake electrophysiology with chronic implantation of electrodes and optical fibers in the central nervous system.
- Computational neuroscience
Technological achievements:
Designed the Berg64-probe now sold at Neuronexus, http://neuronexus.com/
Techniques
Awake, behaving rodents, as well as anesthetized and in vitro preparations, are used as a part of our ongoing research. Our technical expertise includes:
- intracellular recording
- in vivo multisite extracellular recording
- design and fabrication of micro electrode arrays
- juxtacellular staining with paraformaldehyde fixable lipophilic dyes
- intracortical electrical, pharmacological, and optical (optogenetic) microstimulation
- brain bow labeling
- viral expression and tracing
- 3D histology including tissue clearing and immunochemistry analytical and numerical methods for data analysis
- MRI and diffusion tensor imaging
- single cell and network modeling
- synaptic conductance estimation
- simple behavioral test by rodents
- treadmill locomotion
- video monitoring and analysis of animal behaviors
Key Publications
- Berg RW “Neuronal diversity in spinal motor circuits: Greater than sum of its parts” Front Neural Circuits, 11: 103, 2017
- Jensen, KHR, and Berg RW “Advances and perspectives in tissue clearing using CLARITY”, J. Chemical Neuroanatomy, 86: 19-34, 2017
- Berg, RW, MT Stauning, JB Sorensen, H Jahnsen (2017). “Penetration of action potentials during collision in the median and lateral giant axons of invertebrates'” Physical Review X,april 2017
- Jensen, KHR, RW Berg “CLARITY-compatible lipophilic dyes for electrode marking and neuronal tracing” Scientific Reports, 6:32674, 2016
- Petersen, PC and RW Berg (2016) Lognormal firing rate distribution reveals prominent fluctuation-driven regime in spinal motor networks eLife; 10.7554/eLife.
- Vestergaard, M and RW Berg “Divisive gain modulation of motoneurons by inhibition optimizes muscular control” J. Neuroscience 35(8):3711-3723, 2015
- Petersen, PC, M Vestergaard, KHR Jensen, and RW Berg “Premotor spinal network with balanced excitation and inhibition during motor patterns has high resilience to structural division” J. Neuroscience 34(8):2774–2784, 2014
- R. W. Berg, A. Alaburda and J. Hounsgaard (2007) Balanced inhibition and excitation drives spike activity in spinal half-center” Science, vol. 315(5810) 390-393.
