Lab Visitor
Eric Kandel, M.D. pays a visit to the McGinley Lab. Dr. Kandel is a neuroscientist and professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University.
Lab Celebration
The McGinley lab members enjoy a celebration lunch.
Team Building
The members of the McGinley lab enjoy a break from the lab for a team building lunch.
About the Lab
Each moment our senses are bombarded with information from many sources. How do networks of neurons in the brain rapidly process this information in order to make sense out of the world and choose appropriate actions? The McGinley lab approaches this question by studying neural mechanisms of auditory perceptual decision making behaviors, in mice. We primarily use whole-cell recording and two-photon imaging in head-fixed mice while they perform auditory perceptual decision-making tasks.
The lab also utilizes computational and engineering approaches, optogenetics, multi-channel extracellular recording, pupillometry, and histological methods. We are currently focused on three related projects regarding the cellular, synaptic, and neuromodulatory mechanisms of auditory perceptual decision making.
See a listing of our lab members, project details, selected publications and job openings.
Job Openings
We are currently actively recruiting for a postdoctoral fellow position and have opportunities for graduate students.
Research Seed Grant Awarded
Together with Caleb Kemere, we won a research seed grant from the John S. Dunn Collaborative Research Awards. We will develop a platform for neuroscience experiments in which mice navigate a virtual reality environment using acoustic “landmarks.” We hope to better link the mechanisms that integrate audio information with the brain’s broader cognitive maps, and in the process improve technologies like cochlear implants and develop better methods to measure large numbers of cortical and hippocampal neurons. See more information.
