Olfaction and Memory

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Team Leader : Lisa Roux

General objective

Chemosensation is a fundamental sensory modality for living organisms, ranging from Bacteria to Mammals. It is used for many vital functions such as spatial navigation and communication with conspecifics. Odors can trigger innate behavioral responses, but most odor stimuli acquire behavioral significance upon learning and experience. The overarching goal of our team is to identify the neurophysiological substrates of olfactory memory formation across distributed brain networks.

To reach this goal, we study rodents in naturalistic conditions using cutting-edge technologies that allow recording and manipulating large neuronal ensembles in behaving animals: single unit extracellular recordings with silicon probes, closed-loop optogenetic strategies, automated behavioral tracking and precise monitoring of sniffing behavior.

Research Projects

Olfaction in spatial learning

Olfaction in social recognition memory

Role of oxytocin in the piriform cortex

Expertise

Multi-electrode recordings in freely moving mice (silicon probes, tetrodes)

Optogenetics

Behavioral Assays (navigation, social behaviors...)

Stereotaxic surgeries (electrode implants, viral injections, canula placement)

In vivo pharmacology

Analysis of neuronal population datasets (LFP, spikes)

Calcium imaging

News

Lisa interviewed for article in Horizon Magazine

On the role of social scents. Article by Alex Whiting.

Lisa and Pascal contributed to "L'Enquête des Sens"

Chaque année, les étudiant·es du master Médiation des sciences de Bordeaux et l’association Dealers de Sciences organisent une semaine de culture scientifique et technique. Pour sa 5ème édition, la thématique choisie est « L’Enquête des Sens ». Lisa Roux et Pascal Ravassard ont répondu aux questions de leur interviewers sur la perception olfactive (https://www.lenquetedessens.dealersdescience.com/index.php/2020/10/03/les-serrures-de-lodorat/) et le lien entre mémoire et odorat (https://www.lenquetedessens.dealersdescience.com/index.php/2020/11/08/les-echos-de-la-memoire/).

Lisa Roux laureate of the Fondation Schlumberger pour l'Education et la Recherche

The Schlumberger Foundation for Education and Research selects each year three laureates amongst the best young researchers who are building their team in the field of life sciences. A group leader of IINS, Lisa Roux, is one of the laureates in 2021. She has just received a prize to support the establishment of her team and will join the Cercle FSER in taking action to defend and highlight the value of basic science research.

Lisa gave a talk at the 3rd Science and Gender Equality Symposium “SAGE 3.0”

Dates: October 21-22, 2021 on ZOOM. The symposium is funded by the DFG Collaborative Research Center 936 (SFB 936). To know more, follow the link below.

Olfaction and Neurosciences Symposium 2023

Event co-organized by Lisa, Guillaume Ferreira and Giovanni Marsicano on October 16, 2023 with the support of the Neurocampus Department and the IdEx. Check out the program!

Evan Harrell obtained a researcher position at the CNRS and is joining the team!

Evan will bring complementary expertise to the team such as calcium imaging, Neuropixel recordings and computational approaches. His main project will focus on valence coding in olfactory circuits. Congratulation to him!

1st article from the team in Nature Communications

Endogenous cannabinoids in the piriform cortex tune olfactory perception, Nat Com - Feb 24

Geoffrey Terral, Evan Harrell, Gabriel Lepousez, Yohan Wards, Dinghuang Huang, Tiphaine Dolique, Giulio Casali, Antoine Nissant, Pierre-Marie Lledo, Guillaume Ferreira, Giovanni Marsicano & Lisa Roux

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45161-x

Summary

Whether and how the endogenous activity of cannabinoid type-1 receptors impacts sensory functions in vivo is largely unknown. Here, authors show - using in vivo electrophysiology, fiber photometry, behavioral assays and pharmacology - that it impacts network dynamics in piriform olfactory cortex and the ability of mice to detect odorants.

- How was the Roux team involved in this publication?

The team performed in vivo electrophysiological recordings in both freely moving and head-fixed conditions and conducted some behavioral assays. This work benefited from fruitful collaborations within the Neurocampus (Marsicano Lab and Guillaume Ferreira) and with the Pasteur Institute.