Expertise

Topics:  Research Design, Neural Plasticity, Biophysics, Neuroscience

Industries: Research, Education/Learning

Alison Barth studies plasticity in neurons. Her work focuses on understanding how experience transforms the properties of neurons to encode memory. Barth developed and patented the first tool to locate and characterize neurons activated by experience in a living animal, a transgenic mouse called the "fosGFP" mouse. These mice, which have been licensed to every major pharmaceutical company in the United States and distributed to more than 80 researchers worldwide, have facilitated studies into a wide range of neurological diseases as well as the study of learning and memory. Barth also conducts research on epilepsy. Her lab has identified a novel anticonvulsant target, an ion channel called the BK channel, whose activity is increased in response to a seizure. Barth has received the Society for Neuroscience’s Research Award for Innovation in Neuroscience and Career Development Award.

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How synaptic pruning shapes neural wiring during development and, possibly, in disease  — PNAS
At first, it might seem inefficient to create an excess of connections only to remove many of them later, says Alison Barth, a neuroscientist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. In fact, computational biology suggests that selective pruning optimizes the brain’s circuits. In 2015, Barth and her colleagues used simulated neural networks to look at how synapse removal shapes network structure and function, comparing different rates and timing of elimination (3). Patterns like those measured in mouse and human brains—an initial period of rapid, aggressive elimination, followed by a slower decline—improved the capacity of the resulting network to carry information. “Networks that are constructed through overabundance and then pruning are much more robust and efficient than networks that are constructed through other means,” Barth says. “Evolution has selected for [these] properties of network construction,” a process she calls “incredibly beautiful.”

Neuroscientists map brain's response to cold touch  — ScienceDaily
"Touch is, by nature, multi-modal. When you pick something up, it can be warm, smooth and heavy all at once. Your brain divides that touch into all of these different percepts. Understanding how it does this can show us how the brain adapts and learns in response to touch and how changes in these pathways can cause pain and disease," said Alison Barth, professor of biological sciences in the Mellon College of Science and member of the joint Carnegie Mellon/University of Pittsburgh Center for the Basis of Neural Cognition.

This breakthrough could help scientists see exactly how depression, Alzheimer's, and autism transform our brains  — Business Insider
"This is really interesting," said Alison Barth, a researcher and professor at Carnegie Mellon University who studies the brain. Barth says that previously, we haven't been able to see how synapses are changing in people's brains over time, and that this looks like it could allow us to do a study where we track those changes.

Alison Barth Named Interim Director of BrainHub  — Carnegie Mellon University Biological Sciences News
Carnegie Mellon University has named Alison Barth interim director of BrainHub. Barth, professor of biological sciences, is a leader in the field of synaptic plasticity who has helped to shape the global field of neuroscience through innovations created in her lab. As interim director of BrainHub, she will lead the university’s interdisciplinary neuroscience research initiative and help direct the search for a permanent director.

Alison Barth and Marcel Bruchez Awarded Kaufman Grant to Study Neural Communication in the Cerebral Cortex  — Carnegie Mellon University Biological Sciences News
This year, Alison Barth, professor of biological sciences, and Marcel Bruchez, associate professor of biological sciences and chemistry, were grant recipients of The Charles E. Kaufman Foundation, part of The Pittsburgh Foundation. In its second year as a grantmaking program, the foundation supports cutting-edge scientific research at institutions across Pennsylvania with annual award funding to new investigator and new initiative research.