Nuo Li: Neural mechanisms of volitional movement

Описание: Our goal is to understand how neural circuits in the brain give rise to volitional movement. A planning phase precedes all volitional movements in which the brain programs appropriate movement on the fly to achieve the goal at hand. This fundamental process dictates our behavior, ranging from speech to motor skills. Our work has isolated neural antecedents of volitional movements in the mouse brain (also known as ‘preparatory activity’ or ‘readiness potentials’ in humans). I will discuss our progress in delineating a brain-wide motor planning circuit and how preparatory activity instructs movement. I will focus on two projects specifically. One project examines how learned actions are stored in motor memory and how motor memories are maintained as new motor skills are continuously acquired. The second project examines how neocortex and cerebellum form functional networks to support motor planning and motor memory.

Nuo Li is Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine. He completed his PhD with Jim DiCarlo at MIT, examining how the primate visual system constructs invariant object representations. For his postdoctoral work with Karel Svoboda at Janelia Research Campus, he contributed to the development of head-fixed behavioral paradigms in mice. At Baylor, his lab developed tools to study brain-wide circuits in the mouse supporting volitional movement. This work established anterior lateral motor cortex (ALM) important for decision-making and motor planning. His recent work found that the cerebellum contributes critically to cognitive processes by reciprocally interacting with the frontal cortex. His work has been recognized with an Alfred P. Sloan Research fellowship, Searle Scholars award, Pew Scholars award, McKnight Scholar award, and Society for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award.