Diego Andrés Laplagne

Life Sciences

Argentine biologist Diego Laplagne has had a fascination for nature and animals since his childhood. As his studies progressed, he was drawn to the most enigmatic aspect of nature: the mind. He earned his doctorate in biological sciences from the University of Buenos Aires. In 2009, he was awarded the Leon Levy Presidential Fellow in Neuroscience, a grant for independent research, which he pursued at Rockefeller University in the United States. His research is twofold: first, he maps the free behavior and metabolisms of rats. Subsequently, uses computers to correlate data on the functioning of the animals’ brains with behavioral information. This comprehensive approach allows for a deeper understanding of the intricate workings of the mind.

Open Calls

Science Call 1

Projects

Deciphering the Neural Language of Natural Behavior: Unveiling the neural correlates of natural actions
Science / Life Sciences

A century ago, we started measuring the correlation between brain activity and behavior. This involved recording brain activity during simple behaviors, generating intuitions about the correlations, and then quantitatively verifying these intuitions. However, this approach limits us to studying phenomena that are sufficiently clear to us. I aim to leverage the revolution in artificial intelligence to explore the neural signals that best explain animal behavior freely. The project unfolds in four stages: i) gather extensive data from freely behaving rats, simultaneously recording depth video, vocalizations, respiration, accelerometry, and distributed brain activity; ii) develop algorithms to decipher the rat’s ethogram; iii) concurrently discover the ‘neurogram’, a dynamic map of brain states; iv) establish causal relationships between behavioral and neural states. Through this approach, we hope to broaden our understanding of how the brain contributes to our identity.

Amount invested

Grant Serrapilheira: R$ 95,000.00
  • Topics
  • artificial inteligence
  • Behavior
  • cérebro
  • Rats