Gisella Vetere - Cerebral Codes and Circuits Connectivity

Our present conscious life is characterized by all the events that we experienced in our past.
Memories not only define who we are but also guide our future actions by reminding us the consequences of our past acts.
It is very hard to imagine ourself without our memories.
The main interest of our team focuses on memory and how it is encoded in the brain to be recalled later in time.

Our long-standing interest is understanding the mechanisms underlying the memory acquisition, consolidation and recall and in particular we are studying:
(1) synaptic and circuit mechanisms underlying consolidation of a memory trace
(2) the nature of engram cells in the brain.

To study these topics we take advantage of techniques such as optogenetics, chemogenetics, graph theory analysis of whole-brain networks, in vivo imaging using miniaturized microscope and confocal microscopy.

Laboratory website: https://veterelab.weebly.com