CNH Monthly Roundtable Talk by Dr Melissa Sharpe
Date and time: 29 Feb 2024, 11am to 1pm
Talk location: Redmond Barry Building, Latham Theatre
Lunch location: Peter Hall BBQ lawn space
Talk details:
Title: “The cognitive (lateral) hypothalamus”
Abstract: Traditionally, the function of the lateral hypothalamus has been restricted to feeding and promoting other innate behaviours that promote homeostasis. However, we have recently demonstrated that this region is critical for reinforcement learning. Specifically, using the temporal specificity of optogenetics, we demonstrated that the lateral hypothalamus is critical for using cues in the environment to predict arrival of food, over and above a role in feeding. Surprisingly, our subsequent studies revealed that the lateral hypothalamus actively opposes learning about cues that are distal or irrelevant to predicting food. Together, this has led to our new theory that the lateral hypothalamus is a critical arbitrator of reinforcement learning, which prioritizes learning and behaviour directed towards important events (e.g. food or pain). In this talk, I will discuss the data that led to this theory and the implications this has for how we view the contribution of the lateral hypothalamus to psychological disorders, like addiction and schizophrenia.
Speaker bio:
Dr. Sharpe holds a Ph.D. in Psychology (UNSW). Dr. Sharpe received postdoctoral research training in the United States at National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and Princeton University, which was supported by an NHMRC CJ Martin Biomedical Fellowship. Dr. Melissa Sharpe began her lab in the Department of Psychology at UCLA in 2018, receiving the US National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award fellowship in 2022. Dr Sharpe recently moved her research group to the University of Sydney. The lab investigates the neural circuits involved in reinforcement learning using a modern suite of neuroscience techniques including optogenetics and fiber photometry of genetically encoded activity sensors (e.g. calcium, dopamine, serotonin). The lab is funded by the US National Institutes of Health, including the National Institute on Mental Health and National Institute on Drug Abuse.