Iryna Yavorska

PhD in Psychology / Systems Neuroscience

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About Me

I am a scientist on the Mindscope team at the Allen Institute. I received my Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Oregon in 2019. Advised by Mike, in the Wehr lab I studied the role of inhibitory interneurons in processing sound. (she/her)

Research

My research focuses on how diverse neuronal populations make up local cortical circuits

Functional diversity of inhibitory interneurons

Neurons come in all shapes and sizes. While some of their unique differences may be easily related to their functional roles (e.g. short axons of interneurons for local processing vs long axonal projections of motor neurons), other differences (e.g. peptide expression or synaptic connections) are less understood. My research focuses on studying the functional differences of inhibitory subclasses that express unique molecular markers (somatostatin, parvalbumin, and vasoactive-intestinal peptide).

Global vs local neural processing

One challenge in studying neural processing is disentangling the local vs global contributions in manipulation and storage of information. For instance, while most neurons in auditory cortex can be characterized by their tuning properties, the responses of neurons to sound are still quite variable on a short term scale (trial to trial variability) and long term scale (effects of learning and experience). Additionally, global modulation of cortical processing is a ubiquitous phenomenon that can be observed during movements, changes in attention, or cyclical changes in alertness levels. By studying the changes in cortical activity during different behavioral states we can untangle the information in local circuits from effects of endogenous modulation.

Why sensory neuroscience?

With unique opportunity to control sensory information, sensory neuroscience provides a great opportunity to study neural encoding.

Teaching