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Andrew Fink

Assistant Professor

Ph.D., Columbia University

Specializations

Regions(s): Brain and Behavior; Systems Neuroscience; Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

Research interest(s): Synaptic and physiological basis of olfactory learning and memory; rodent olfactory cortex; naturalistic behavior

Research Summary

Our research addresses a deep, yet poorly understood problem that straddles cognitive neuroscience and mechanistic neurobiology. How does an organism learn the structure of its world? What objects are out there? How do they relate to one another? Such unsupervised, task-free, learning has been studied for over a century (e.g. Tolman’s latent learning), yet the underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain mysterious. We use the rodent olfactory circuit to study the neurophysiological, circuit, and network processes that endow biological organisms with this rich cognitive faculty. We have developed: (1) novel behavioral approaches for this problem; (2) methods for long-term observation of neurophysiological activity; and (3) in close collaboration with theoreticians, a deep learning approach for inferring synaptic connectivity and plasticity in vivo. This opens up unprecedented opportunity to study how the connectivity of a network evolves over time and how that plasticity produces changes in network function and behavior.

Selected Publications

  • Fink, AJP*, Hogan, MI, & Schoonover, CE* (2024) Olfactory investigation in the home cage. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 107951. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2024.107951
  • Schoonover, CE*, Ohashi, SN, Axel, R, & Fink, AJP* (2021) Representational drift in primary olfactory cortex. Nature, 594: 541–546. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03628-7
  • Fink, AJP*, Axel, R, & Schoonover, CE* (2019) A virtual burrow assay for head–fixed mice measures habituation, discrimination, exploration and avoidance without training. eLife, 8: e45658. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.45658.001
  • Fink, AJP, Croce, KR, Huang, ZJ, Abbott, LF, Jessell, TM, & Azim, E (2014) Presynaptic inhibition of spinal sensory feedback ensures smooth movement. Nature, 509: 43–48. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13276