Norbert Hajos
Indiana University, IN·Neuroscience
To act well, the brain must reliably notice important signals, such as a painful shock or a reward. A common way the cortex, the brain's outer layer, does this is "dis-inhibition": it switches off the cells that normally hold other neurons back.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Physiology
Biology
- Topics
VIP interneurons
vasoactive intestinal polypeptide
GABAergic interneurons
- Grants
- 1 known grant, last ended Aug 2026
What they work on
- Test whether VIP interneurons, cortical cells that release GABA to inhibit other inhibitory cells, form functionally distinct groups by recording their spiking after foot shocks and reward delivery in awake mice.
- Determine which types of GABAergic interneurons each genetically defined VIP subtype targets, using viral tracing, neuroanatomical methods and three genetically modified mouse lines.
- Measure how VIP subtypes affect their postsynaptic partners in local frontal cortex microcircuits by combining optogenetics, which controls neurons with light, with in vitro and in vivo electrophysiology.
More about the research
Interneurons that make vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) are central to this. These are local GABAergic interneurons, cells that release the calming neurotransmitter GABA. VIP interneurons are strongly excited by punishment and reward. They then inhibit other inhibitory interneurons, which frees the cortex's main output neurons, the pyramidal cells, to fire. VIP cells are usually treated as one uniform group. This project asks whether they are actually several functionally distinct types.
Why it matters
Problems with attention and with noticing important signals occur in schizophrenia, autism and attention deficit disorders. By clarifying how dis-inhibitory VIP circuits normally process salient signals, this work may help form new ideas about how cortical circuits malfunction in these conditions. It could also reveal a general rule of circuit organization across the cortex.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Kevin Franks
Duke University, NC·Neuroscience
Test whether piriform cortex neurons jointly encode olfactory bulb input and breathing phase, by delivering brief optogenetic light pulses to different olfactory bulb spots timed to respiration in awake, head-fixed mice.
Gordon M Shepherd
Northwestern University, IL·Neuroscience
Map direct and multi-step connections from secondary motor cortex (M2) to forelimb primary motor cortex (M1) in mouse brain slices, using in vivo viral labeling, optogenetic stimulation and whole-cell recordings.
Gordon J Fishell
Harvard University, MA·Neuroscience
Determine which target cells SST interneurons in granular versus infragranular cortical layers connect to, and how development sets up this selectivity, using anatomical and optogenetic circuit mapping.
The school
Indiana University: 21 labs on PI Pages, $897M a year on research, 438 research doctorates a year.
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