Neurophysiology of natural behaviors

The ability to store and retrieve associations between specific sensory stimuli and behaviorally relevant information is a vital memory function: it allows the organism to adapt its behavior based on prior experience. Olfaction is a central sensory modality in rodents as it supports an array of crucial behaviors such as predator avoidance, feeding, reproduction, maternal behavior and social interactions. Although specific odors can trigger innate responses, most odor stimuli acquire behavioral significance upon learning and experience. The goal of our team is to identify the network mechanisms underlying the formation of olfactory memory traces across distributed brain regions. More generally, we aim at understanding how sensory information is routed and processed in the brain to integrate lasting memories.
To adress these questions, we use a combination of advanced methods that allow monitoring and manipulating in real-time neuronal ensembles in freely moving animals towards a deep mechanistic understanding of brain functions. These methods include chronic multi-site high-density silicon probe recordings (units and local field potentials), 3D behavioral tracking, optogenetic tagging and closed-loop optogenetic manipulations in behaving rodents.

 

 

Selected publications

Respiratory pauses highlight sleep architecture in mice
Giulio Casali, Camille Miermon, Geoffrey Terral, Pascal Ravassard, Tim Gervois, Tiphaine Dolique, Evan R. Harrell, Alena Spitsyn, Edith Lesburguères, David Jarriault, Frédéric Gambino, Nicolas Chenouard, Lisa Roux
Nature Communications. 2026-05-19
10.1038/s41467-026-73106-z

Abrogation of presynaptic facilitation at hippocampal mossy fiber synapses disrupts neural ensemble activity and spatial memory
Catherine Marneffe, Noelle Grosjean, Kyrian Nicolay-Kritter, Cécile Chatras, Evan R. Harrell, Ashley Kees, Christophe Mulle
Current Biology. 2026-03-01
10.1016/j.cub.2026.02.027

Endogenous cannabinoids in the piriform cortex tune olfactory perception
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
Nat Commun. 2024-02-09
10.1038/s41467-024-45161-x

Chemogenetic stimulation of adult neurogenesis, and not neonatal neurogenesis, is sufficient to improve long-term memory accuracy
Marie Lods, Pierre Mortessagne, Emilie Pacary, Geoffrey Terral, Fanny Farrugia, Wilfrid Mazier, Nuria Masachs, Vanessa Charrier, Daniela Cota, Guillaume Ferreira, Djoher Nora Abrous, Sophie Tronel
Progress in Neurobiology. 2022-12-01
10.1016/j.pneurobio.2022.102364

Olfactory modulation of barrel cortex activity during active whisking and passive whisker stimulation
Anthony Renard, Evan R. Harrell, Brice Bathellier
Nat Commun. 2022-07-02
10.1038/s41467-022-31565-0

The atypical Rho GTPase Rnd2 is critical for dentate granule neuron development and anxiety-like behavior during adult but not neonatal neurogenesis
Thomas Kerloch, Fanny Farrugia, Marlene Maitre, Geoffrey Terral, Muriel Koehl, Julian Ik-Tsen Heng, Mylene Blanchard, Helene Doat, Thierry Leste-Lasserre, Adeline Goron, Delphine Gonzales, Francois Guillemot, Nora Abrous, Emilie Pacary
Mol Psy.. 2021-12
10.1101/2020.09.10.290866

Fast cortical dynamics encode tactile grating orientation during active touch
Evan R. Harrell, Anthony Renard, Brice Bathellier
Sci. Adv.. 2021-09-03
10.1126/sciadv.abf7096

Subcellular specificity of cannabinoid effects in striatonigral circuits.
Soria-Gomez E, Pagano Zottola AC, Mariani Y, Desprez T, Barresi M, Bonilla-Del Río I, Muguruza C, Le Bon-Jego M, Julio-Kalajzić F, Flynn R, Terral G, Fernández-Moncada I, Robin LM, Oliveira da Cruz JF, Corinti S, Amer YO, Goncalves J, Varilh M, Cannich A, Redon B, Zhao Z, Lesté-Lasserre T, Vincent P, Tolentino-Cortes T, Busquets-García A, Puente N, Bains JS, Hebert-Chatelain E, Barreda-Gómez G, Chaouloff F, Lohman AW, Callado LF, Grandes P, Baufreton J, Marsicano G, Bellocchio L.
Neuron. 2021-03-01
10.1016/j.neuron.2021.03.007

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