Bastijn van den Boom

General principles of deep-brain stimulation and functional activity in cortico-striatal circuits

Deep-brain stimulation (DBS) of the internal capsule is used to treat therapy-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Bastijn combines behavioral testing of a compulsive-like mouse model with DBS, simultaneous one-photon calcium imaging using implantable miniaturized fluorescent microscopes (so-called miniscopes) to visualize real-time neuronal activity, and optogenetic manipulations. In addition, he uses miniscopes and fiber photometry to image genetically defined cortico-striatal neuronal cell-types in rats during a novel Go/No-go task to disentangle function contribution to action selection and decision making.