Research interests
The ability to localize sounds is critical to survival for almost all animals and in humans facilitates selective attention. When this ability is impaired, reduced comprehension of speech in complicated auditory environments negatively affects quality of life. Understanding the functional roles of the cellular components of sound localization circuits and how they are sculpted by sound driven activity during development is a crucial step in understanding how the sound localization system might be disrupted and may underpin novel interventions to restore function for individuals with impairments. I study synaptic plasticity in sound localization circuits that weights the strength of the synaptic inputs from each ear. I also study how the morphology and ion channel composition of neuronal dendrites facilitate the difficult computations these circuits accomplish.
What we do
- Ex vivo electrophysiology
- Dual somatic/dendritic whole-cell recordings
- Synaptic plasticity
- Two-photon calcium imaging
- In situ hybridization
Select publications
- Mellott JG, Dhar M, Mafi A, Tokar N, Winters BD. Tonotopic distribution and inferior colliculus projection pattern of inhibitory and excitatory cell types in the lateral superior olive of Mongolian gerbils. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 2021; Aug 2. doi: 10.1002/cne.25226.
- Winters BD, Golding NL. Glycinergic inhibitory plasticity in binaural neurons is cumulative and gated by developmental changes in action potential backpropagation. Neuron, 2018; 98, 1: 166-178.
- Winters BD, Jin SX, Ledford KR, Golding NL. Amplitude normalization of dendritic EPSPs at the soma of binaural coincidence detector neurons of the medial superior olive. The Journal of Neuroscience, 2017; 37, 12: 3138-3149.
- Full list of publications
Positions available
- Postdoctoral researcher
- Graduate student
- Lab technician