Ksenia Vlasov

Research Description

In order to interact appropriately with a changing environment, the brain must not only respond to current conditions but also learn to anticipate the immediate future. In that light, emotions can be conceptualized as learned predictions about the valence of salient stimuli. The Fioravante lab studies how predictions emerge in the emotional domain. The lab focuses on the underappreciated connection between emotional brain centers, such as the amygdala, and the cerebellum- a brain region with well-studied predictive signaling in motor, and more recently also non-motor, control. To map cerebello-amygdala functionality and establish causality in emotional processing, the lab characterized for the first time the anatomy of disynaptic pathways between the cerebellum and the amygdala (basolateral nucleus, BLA) via two major nodes: the intralaminar thalamus (TH) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA). The objective of Ksenia’s project is to examine the role of these two CB-amygdala circuits in affective learning and explore the mechanisms of signal transmission to the BLA. In ex vivo slice experiments, Ksenia has already characterized the synaptic properties of cerebello-thalamic connections, which provide insights into the signal propagation properties of this circuit. In in vivo electrophysiology experiments, she recently generated the first evidence for functional connectivity between the cerebellar nuclei and BLA through the thalamus. Finally, in ongoing behavioral experiments, Ksenia is optogenetically perturbing these functional connections to determine causal contributions to predictive signaling and the regulation of learned emotion. Ksenia’s studies will advance understanding of how the cerebellum can modulate limbic processes and play a major role in learning and memory disorders.