How does the brain transform sensory stimuli into perceptual experiences? How can the very same stimulus sometimes be seen, and sometimes not? Why are we unaware of what is going on around us while we sleep? What are the neural mechanisms of consciousness?

These are the questions that lie at the center of my research activities, and that I address by combining techniques for in vivo multi-area large scale recordings (including Neuropixels probe recordings and two-photon calcium imaging), optogenetics, advanced data analysis and behavioral tasks.

The neuron-level mechanisms of perception

The very same sensory stimulus can be differentially perceived (or even not perceived at all) based on the context in which it occurs. A sound occurring when we are asleep, or focused on something else such reading a book is often not perceived, even if our brain is processing it. Investigating the context in which a stimulus is processed by the brain can yield invaluable insights in the mechanisms of perception and consciousness. In the lab, we combine behavioral assays with neuronal recordings and causal manipulations to understand the link between sensory processing and perception.

Inter-areal communication and distributed processing

The brain is an interconnected web of regions, which constantly exchange information. A key goal of my lab is to investigate the architecture of communication between regions, and how this varies as a function of contextual factors (brain state, task engagement, etc.) To achieve this, techniques such as multi-area silicon probe recordings (including Neuropixels probes) and optogenetics are coupled to advanced data analysis methods (information theory, dimensionality reduction).

Cortical multimodal integration

Multisensory integration is observed at different levels of cortical organization, starting from primary sensory cortices. By investigating the microcircuit-level mechanisms of multimodal integration, I aim to shine light on key features of conscious processing such as perceptual binding.

Neurotechnology

The final pillar of my lab is neurotechnology. By employing and developing techniques to record, manipulate and analyze the activity of large-scale populations of neurons we aim to probe the distributed neuronal bases of perception. 

My lab is part of the Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Group (CSN) at the Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences (SILS).  With multimodal processing and perception as common denominator of the CSN group, my lab focuses on the application of in vivo multi-area recordings and optogenetics and on the development of neurotechnological approaches to study the neuronal bases of (multi)sensory processing and perception. A key area of interest is the experimental study of theories of consciousness.

Within the CSN group a tight collaboration is established with with chair of the CSN grop Prof. Cyriel Pennartz (INTENSE project, INTREPID project, Human Brain Project), with Dr. Conrado Bosman (FLAG-ERA projects CANON and DOMINO) and with Dr. Jan Willem de Gee. 

• Horizon Europe – EIC Pathfinder open program - NAP project: Twin-on-a-chip brains for monitoring individual sleep habits
• Templeton World Charity Foundation / Accelerating Research on Consciousness INTREPID project: Adversarial collaboration to test contrasting predictions from Integrated Information Theory and Predictive Processing Accounts of Consciousness (with Cyriel Pennartz)
• Templeton World Charity Foundation / Accelerating Research on Consciousness Project: The circuit mechanisms of visual consciousness
• Amsterdam Brain and Cognition Project: The circuit mechanisms of visual consciousness: from theories to experiments and back
• NWO Crossover project INTENSE: Innovative Neurotechnology for Society (with Cyriel Pennartz)
• FLAG-ERA Joint Transnational Call 2019 – DOMINO Project: Development of cortical multisensory integration mechanisms at micro- and macro- scales during normal and pathophysiological conditions (with Conrado Bosman)
• FLAG-ERA Joint Transnational Call 2015 – CANON Project: Investigating the canonical organization of neocortical circuits for sensory integration (with Conrado Bosman)
• Amsterdam Neuroscience Translational proof-of-concept project “Excitation-inhibition ratio as a translational concept: Optogenetic validation of a novel method to stratify autism spectrum disorder” 
• Amsterdam Brain and Cognition (ABC) project grant “Sleep‐related memory reactivation: a conscious process?”

I was trained as a Biomedical Engineer at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa, Italy) and at the University of Pisa. During my PhD at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, I moved to neuroscience, and I established a collaboration with Prof. Giulio Tononi at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While in Madison, I developed an interest in the study of sleep and consciousness. I worked on a computational model to study the memory consequences of the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis, and collaborated with Vladyslav Vyazovskiy to study the nature of cortical spiking activity during sleep. One major result was the discovery that cortical patches can display local sleep while an individual is behaviorally awake. During my PostDoc, I worked with Dr. Paolo Medini at the Italian Institute of Technology (Genoa, Italy). There, I focused on the application of a wide range of in vivo experimental techniques (whole-cell patch clamp, ensemble recordings, two-photon calcium imaging, optogenetics) to characterize the microcircuit-level architecture of multisensory integration in the parietal cortex. As a group leader in the CSN Group at the University of Amsterdam, I mainly focus on the neuronal mechanism of perception: how sensory stimuli are converted by the brain into perceptual experiences.

• Mariel Muller (PhD student, joint supervision with Conrado Bosman)
• Jean Pie (PhD student, collaborative project with Cyriel Pennartz and Christiaan de Kock)
• Luca Montelisciani (PhD student, joint supervision with Conrado Bosman)
• Eric Dijkema (PhD student)
• Joao Patriota (PhD student, joint supervision with Lucia Talamini)
• Judith Lim (PhD student, joint supervision with Cyriel Pennartz and Carien Lansink)
• Sabine Gnodde (PhD student)
• Kengo Takahashi (PostDoc)

• Tom Sikkens (former PhD student, joint supervision with Conrado Bosman)
• Matthijs oude Lohuis (former PhD student, joint supervision with Cyriel Pennartz, now a PostDoc at the Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon)

• Lucia Talamini, University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands)
• Simon van Gaal, University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands)
• Timo Stein, University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands)
• Ugo Faraguna, University of Pisa (Italy)
• Pieter Roelfsema, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (the Netherlands)
• Daniele Avitabile, VU University Amsterdam (the Netherlands)
• Vivi Rottschaffer, Leiden University (the Netherlands)
• Giulio Tononi, University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA)
• Karl Friston, UCL (UK)
• Rafael Yuste, Columbia University (New York, USA)
• Guido Marco Cicchini, CNR (Pisa, Italy)
• Benoit Cottereau, INSERM (Toulouse, France)
• Argiro Vatakis, Panteion University (Athens, Greece)

• 01/11/2022: Umberto Olcese organized and moderated the public symposium "From Matter to Mind" at SPUI25, where Melanie Boly, Andy Clark and Anil Seth debated the recent progress in the study of consciousness.
• 06/10/2022: Kudos to Matthijs oude Lohuis for successfully defending his PhD.

Are you seeking more specific information on this research line, on specific projects for internships or on possible collaborations? Please contact me at: u.olcese@uva.nl.

• Lohuis, M.N.O., Marchesi, P., Pennartz, C.M. and Olcese, U., Functional (ir)relevance of posterior parietal cortex during audiovisual change detection. J Neurosci, 42 (26), 5229-5245 (2022).
• Lohuis, M.N.O., Pie, J.L., Marchesi, P., Montijn, J.S., de Kock, C.P., Pennartz, C.M. and Olcese, U., Task complexity temporally extends the causal requirement for visual cortex in perception. Nat Commmun, 13 (1), 1-19 (2022).
• Lohuis, M.N.O., Canton, A.C., Pennartz, C.M. and Olcese, U., Higher Order Visual Areas Enhance Stimulus Responsiveness in Mouse Primary Visual Cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 32 (15), 3269-3288 (2022).
• Sikkens, T., Bosman Vittini, C.A. & Olcese, U., The role of top-down modulation in shaping sensory processing across brain states: implications for consciousness, Front Syst Neurosci, 13:31 (2019).
• Meijer, G., Mertens, P., Pennartz, C.M.A., Olcese, U. & Lansink, C.S., Cortical networks for multisensory processing: distinct functions sharing a common circuitry, Progr Neurobiol, 174:1-15 (2019).
• Olcese, U., oude Lohuis, M. & Pennartz, C.M.A., Sensory processing across conscious and nonconscious brain states: from single neurons to distributed networks, Front Syst Neurosci, 12:49 (2018).
• Olcese, U., Bos, J.J., Vinck, M., & Pennartz, C.M.A., Functional determinants of enhanced and depressed inter-areal information flow in NREM sleep between neuronal ensembles in rat cortex and hippocampus, SLEEP, 41(11) (2018).
• Storm, J. F., Boly, M., Casali, A. G., Massimini, M., Olcese, U., Pennartz, C.M.A., & Wilke, M., Consciousness Regained: Disentangling Mechanisms, Brain Systems, and Behavioral Responses. J Neurosci, 37(45), 10882-10893 (2017).
• Olcese, U., Bos, J.J., Vinck, M., Lankelma, J.V., van Mourik-Donga, L.B., Schlumm, F. & Pennartz, C.M.A., Spike-based functional connectivity in cerebral cortex and hippocampus: loss of global connectivity is coupled to preservation of local connectivity during non-REM sleep, J Neurosci, 36 (29), 7676-7692 (2016).
• Olcese, U., Iurilli, G. and Medini, P., Cellular and synaptic architecture of multisensory integration in the mouse neocortex, Neuron, 79, 579-593 (2013).
• Iurilli, G., Ghezzi, D., Olcese, U., Lassi, G., Nazzaro, C., Tonini, R., Tucci, V., Benfenati, F. and Medini, P., Sound-Driven Synaptic Inhibition in Primary Visual Cortex, Neuron 73, 814-828 (2012).
• Vyazovskiy, V.V., Olcese, U, Hanlon, E.C., Nir,Y., Cirelli, C. and Tononi, G., Local sleep in awake rats, Nature,28;472(7344):443-7 (2011).