Here are some of my colleagues' papers which I think are very exciting. Sorry this list is a bit out-of-date (this will be updated soon).
- NMDA Receptor Regulation Prevents Regression of Visual Cortical Function in the Absence of Mecp2. Neuron, Volume 76, Issue 6, 1078-1090, 20 December 2012. PMID:23259945. [Note: This paper from Fagiolini-Hensch lab at Harvard Medical School studied and characterised functional cortical subcircuits in the brain of an autistic mouse model and related this with disease endophenotype]
- Functional specificity of local synaptic connections in neocortical networks. Nature. 2011 May 5;473(7345):87-91. PMID:21478872. [Note: This paper from Tom Mrsic-Flogel's lab at UCL studied functional response properties of cortical neurons in vivo and later characterised the synaptic connectivity from same subsets in vitro. Also a technical tour de force]
- A disinhibitory microcircuit for associative fear learning in the auditory cortex. Nature. 2011 Dec 7;480(7377):331-335. PMID:22158104. [Note: A beautiful paper from Andreas Luthi's lab at FMI looked at fear circuits in mouse brain and how individual subcircuits interact and perform behaviourally relevant function]
- Division and subtraction by distinct cortical inhibitory networks in vivo. Nature. 2012 Aug 16;488(7411):343-8. PMID:22878717. [Note: A beautiful opto-physiology investigation by Wilson-Runyan looking at interneuron subtypes and their arithmatic operations in controlling response gain during cortical computation]
- Topoisomerase inhibitors unsilence the dormant allele of Ube3a in neurons. Nature. 2011 Dec 21;481(7380):185-9. PMID:22190039. [Note: Another beautiful paper from Ben Philpot's lab. High-content screen led to the discovery of pharmacological agents which epigenetically unsilenced paternal copy of Ube3a allele, a gene responsible for Angelman syndrome]
- Experimentally induced visual projections into auditory thalamus and cortex. Science. 1988 Dec 9;242(4884):1437-41. PMID:2462279 [Note: A beautiful paper from Mriganka Sur's lab showing cross-modal plasticity between visual and auditory areas]
Some interesting popular science article:
- The forgottem era of Brain Chips: Jose Delgado [This article talks about Delgado's famous experiments controlling brain activity with a stimochiever in a fighting bull]
- A history of optogenetics: the development of tools for controlling brain circuits with light - by Ed Boyden, F1000 [Note: The most up-to-date article on the history of optogenetics]
- The Human Brain Project - by Henry Markram, Scientific American
- Jerry Lettvin - Translations of Morgenstern's poetry, The Fat Abbot