About

Neurophysics is the branch of neuroscience dealing with the development and use of theoretical concepts and experimental tools typically employed in physics in order to gain information about the nervous system.

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

H. Lindén, P.C. Petersen, M. Vestergaard, Rune W. Berg “Movement is governed by rotational neural dynamics in spinal motor networks”, Nature 610 (7932), 526-531 (2022) (DOI)
M. Radosevic, A. Willumsen, P. C. Petersen, H. Lindén, M. Vestergaard, R. W. Berg, “Decoupling of timescales reveals sparse convergent CPG network in the adult spinal cord” Nature Communications, 10:2937, 2019, (Link)
R. W. Berg, A. Willumsen, H. Lindén “When networks walk a fine line: Balance of excitation and inhibition in spinal motor circuits” Current Opinion in Physiology, 8: 76-86, 2019 (Link) (PDF)
Petersen, PC and RW Berg (2016) Lognormal firing rate distribution reveals prominent fluctuation-driven regime in spinal motor networks eLife; 10.7554/eLife. (Link)

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. (DOI)(pdf)

Berg-lab

About

Technological achievements

Techniques

Key Publications

Contact

Find

Information