Electrophysiological characterization of auditory memory reactivations in the ferret

How the brain consolidates auditory memories during sleep remains poorly understood. A key open question is whether the hippocampus contributes to this process via sharp-wave ripple (SWR) events, the fast oscillatory sequences that drive memory replay in spatial tasks, or whether auditory cortex operates through distinct, cortex-intrinsic mechanisms. Addressing this question requires combining large-scale recordings across the auditory system and hippocampus with reliable vigilance-state monitoring.

The intern will contribute to high-density electrophysiological recordings in freely-moving ferrets instrumented with Neuropixels 2.0 probes spanning primary auditory cortex (A1), non-primary auditory areas, and hippocampus, alongside olfactory bulb (OB) local field potential electrodes used for vigilance-state classification. The work will involve participating in recording sessions, preprocessing and spike-sorting electrophysiological data (Kilosort pipeline), and contributing to the analysis of sound-evoked and spontaneous population activity across wake and sleep states. A specific focus will be placed on identifying candidate SWR events in ferret hippocampus and assessing their temporal relationship to cortical reactivations.

Skills gained: chronic in vivo electrophysiology, high-density silicon probe recordings, spike sorting, LFP analysis, sleep-state classification, supervised animal handling.

Candidate profile: M2 student in neuroscience or biology, comfortable with quantitative data analysis (Python or Matlab); prior exposure to electrophysiology or signal processing is a plus.