Dr. Martha Havenith
Ernst Strüngmann Institute for Neuroscience
Deutschordenstraße 46
60528 Frankfurt/Main
+49 (0)69 96769-361
E-Mail: martha.havenith@esi-frankfurt.de
Scientific Focus
Unlike in, say, C. Elegans, in mammals the conversion from sensory input to motor output follows a complex and flexible path, shaped by a multitude of interacting cognitive processes. As such, most neuronal and even behavioural responses are in fact not directly linked to external events, but internally generated and referenced. I have studied such internally driven cognitive and neuronal dynamics combining a range of techniques from acute and chronic electrophysiology to two-photon imaging and optogenetics, mouse behaviour and extensive data mining of neuronal and behavioural data. In the Zero-Noise Lab, my Co-PI Marieke Schölvinck and me explore how fundamental cognitive processes such as perception, attention and learning are superimposed in the same neuronal population at each moment on time, and how such superimposed coding is implemented across species – specifically monkeys and mice.
Methods
Mouse behaviour
Virtual reality
Electrophysiology
Optogenetics
Data mining
Two-photon imaging
Selected Publications
van Heukelum S, Tulva K, Geers F, van Dulm S, Ruisch IH, Mill J, Viana JG, Beckmann CF, Buitelaar JK, Poelmans G, Glennon JC, Vogt BA, Havenith MN‡, Franca ASC‡ (2020, biorxiv) Anterior cingulate cortex hypofunction causes anti-social aggression in mice.
van Heukelum S, Mars RB, Guthrie M, Tiesinga P, Buitelaar JK, Beckmann CF, Vogt BA, Glennon JC‡, Havenith MN‡ (2020) Where is Cingulate Cortex? A Cross-Species View, Trends in Neurosciences, 43(5): 285-299
Havenith MN, Zijderveld PM, van Heukelum S, Abghari S, Glennon JC, Tiesinga P (2019) The Virtual-Environment-Foraging Task enables rapid training and single-trial metrics of rule acquisition and reversal in head-fixed mice, Nature Scientific Reports, 9(1): 4790
Havenith MN‡, Zijderveld PM‡, van Heukelum S, Abghari S, Tiesinga P, Glennon JC (2018) The Virtual-Environment-Foraging Task enables rapid training and single-trial metrics of attention in head-fixed mice, Nature Scientific Reports, 8(1): 17371
Havenith MN, Yu S, Biederlack J, Chen NH, Singer W, Nikolic D (2011) Synchrony makes neurons fire in sequence, and stimulus properties determine who is ahead, Journal of Neuroscience, 31: 8570-8584