Gordon Shepherd

Gordon Shepherd
Professor of Neuroscience
and Neurobiology

Research Interests and Projects

The main research interest of this laboratory is in the neuron as a complex system and in the synaptic organization of neurons into microcircuits in the brain. We focus on the ways that information processing by the neuron takes place through an interplay of the geometry of dendritic branching, the mechanisms of transduction of synaptic or sensory signals, and contributions of passive and active membrane properties. For this purpose, the neurons in the olfactory pathway and related limbic system have proved to be attractive models in the vertebrate brain.

In the olfactory bulb we are studying the generation of odor maps using high resolution fMRI in rats and mice.  In olfactory bulb slices we are analysing synaptic and active dendritic properties using dual patch recordings, Ca imaging and 2-photon microscopy.

Our laboratory also contains a computation unit,which is used in parallel with the experiments to explore mechanisms of information processing in dendritic spines, dendritic trees and cortical microcircuits. Through support by the Human Brain Project, we are developing The SenseLab Project  for the construction of databases for receptors and neurons to facilitate the integration of these multidisciplinary data into computational models of neurons and neuronal currents. 

Recent Publications

Lam YK, Marenco L, Shepherd GM, Miller PL, Cheung KH. Using web ontology language to integrate heterogeneous databases in the neurosciences. AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2006;:464-8.

Shepherd GM.Smell images and the flavour system in the human brain. Nature. 2006 Nov 16;444(7117):316-21.

Zhou Z, Xiong W, Zeng S, Xia A, Shepherd GM, Greer CA, Chen WR. Dendritic excitability and calcium signalling in the mitral cell distal glomerular tuft. Eur J Neurosci. 2006 Sep;24(6):1623-32.

Willhite DC, Nguyen KT, Masurkar AV, Greer CA, Shepherd GM, Chen WR. Viral tracing identifies distributed columnar organization in the olfactory bulb. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Aug 15;103(33):12592-7.

Grosmaitre X, Vassalli A, Mombaerts P, Shepherd GM, Ma M. Odorant responses of olfactory sensory neurons expressing the odorant receptor MOR23: a patch clamp analysis in gene-targeted mice. U S A. 2006 Feb 7;103(6):1970-5.

Shepherd GM. Behaviour: smells, brains and hormones. Nature. 2006 Jan 12;439(7073):149-51.

Chen WR, Shepherd GM. The olfactory glomerulus: a cortical module with specific functions. J Neurocytol. 2005 Sep;34(3-5):353-60.

Migliore M, Shepherd GM. Opinion: an integrated approach to classifying neuronal phenotypes. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2005 Oct;6(10):810-8.

Xu F, Schaefer M, Kida I, Schafer J, Liu N, Rothman DL, Hyder F, Restrepo D, Shepherd GM. Simultaneous activation of mouse main and accessory olfactory bulbs by odors or pheromones. J Comp Neurol. 2005 Sep 5;489(4):491-500.

Shepherd GM. Perception without a thalamus how does olfaction do it? Neuron. 2005 Apr 21;46(2):166-8.

Saghatelyan A, Roux P, Migliore M, Rochefort C, Desmaisons D, Charneau P, Shepherd GM, Lledo PM. Activity-dependent adjustments of the inhibitory network in the olfactory bulb following early postnatal deprivation. Neuron. 2005 Apr 7;46(1):103-16.

Shepherd GM. Outline of a theory of olfactory processing and its relevance to humans. Chem Senses. 2005 Jan;30 Suppl 1:i3-i5.

Shepherd and related labs and people

Prof. Gordon M. Shepherd
Yale Univ. School of Medicine
Department of Neurobiology