Our lab studies the mouse motor system, with a specific emphasis on synaptic and circuit mechanisms in motor learning. The deep and distributed location of brain motor regions and the lack of specific tools for visualizing synaptic plasticity, neuromodulatory signaling, and neuronal activity in parallel and in vivo have thus far limited the study of the interplay of synaptic plasticity and neural circuit adaptation. Using in vivo imaging of synaptic structure, intracellular signaling pathways, and neuronal activity in combination with sophisticated behavioral tracking, we seek to understand how synaptic plasticity regulates circuit dynamics during learning. We are interested in addressing questions such as:
How does synaptic plasticity shape the activity of individual neurons during learning?
How does input-specific plasticity shape sensorimotor integration?
How do neuromodulatory systems and internal states influence motor learning?
How are synapse-to-circuit interactions disrupted in movement disorders, such as Parkinson's Disease?
Dr. Richard Roth is a Scientist at the Krembil Brain Institute and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Toronto. He earned his BSc in Biochemistry from the Technical University of Munich and his PhD in Neuroscience from the Johns Hopkins University, where he joined Dr. Richard Huganir’s lab to study how synaptic connections change during motor learning. He then completed his postdoctoral training in Dr. Jun Ding’s laboratory at Stanford University. There he explored how different brain circuits work together to produce skilled movements and how these processes are disrupted in conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.
His lab now investigates how synaptic and circuit plasticity come together to shape motor control and motor learning and how these processes go awry in disease, with the long-term goal of uncovering insights that may inspire new treatments for movement disorders and memory-related conditions.
- Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, University of Toronto