Hussaini Lab

Our ability to remember places (spatial memory) becomes weaker as we get old and senior moments are not uncommon. But in Alzheimer’s disease, spatial memory is severely affected with early symptoms such as confusion, disorientation and getting lost even in familiar places. The hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex  are regions in the brain important for spatial memory, i.e. they help us to make a mental map of our surroundings to navigate around. These two regions are among the first to be affected in aging and Alzheimer’s disease and are intricately connected to each other through the trisynaptic circuit. We use Aging and Alzheimer’s disease mouse models to distinguish between memory loss due to aging and Alzheimer’s disease.

The lab specializes in single-unit recording to study the activity of aging neurons and neurons affected by pathology. By recording from the trisynaptic circuit neurons of freely behaving mice, we aim to understand how neuronal dysfunction leads to cognitive impairment. We also use optogenetic and chemogenetic techniques to manipulate neuronal firing.

In summary, we aim to identify and reverse neuronal dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases and restore cognitive impairment.