Ayan Ghoshal, Ph.D.
Research Fellow
B.Sc. Physiology, Presidency College, Calcutta University, Kolkata, India, 2004
M.Sc. Neuroscience, National Brain Research Center, Manesar, India, 2006
Ph.D. Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 2011
Biosketch and Research Interests
Ayan Ghoshal is a postdoctoral fellow who joined the Conn Lab in March 2011. He completed his bachelor’s degree in Physiology from Presidency College, Calcutta University. Ayan then joined the National Brain Research Center in Manesar, near New Delhi as a Master’s student. He investigated the role of microglia in neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration following Japanese encephalitis infection, one of the more common infectious diseases among children in India. At Vanderbilt University, Ayan studied brain physiology for his doctoral training under Prof. Ford Ebner in the Psychology Department. He investigated the affect of sensory deprivation on single and ensemble neuron properties by studying the rodent barrel cortex. He also studied if primary sensory cortex is multisensory in nature and how those “cross-modal” interactions can be developmentally manipulated through experience. Ayan's dissertation also described the nature and a plausible role of cortical neuronal synchrony in functional reorganization of the brain with different early sensory experience and how it can be independently affected in barrel cortex from firing rate of neurons during cross-modal interactions.
After completing his Ph.D., Ayan joined the Conn laboratory and the Vanderbilt Center for Neursocience Drug Discovery to investigate the effect of selective allosteric modulators on the network properties of the brain using several techniques. Currently he is looking at changes in network properties with the positive allosteric modulator (PAMs) of metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) using pharmacological MR imaging (phMRI). Ayan will also extend his expertise in electrophysiology to set up an in vivo single cell extracellular electrophysiological rig to test the effect of the different novel compounds on the single and ensemble neuronal properties of the different brain regions that are implicated in the several mental disorders.
Selected Publications
Ghoshal A, Das S, Ghosh S, Mishra MK, Sharma V, Koli P, Sen E, Basu A (2007). Proinflammatory mediators released by activated microglia induce neuronal death in Japanese encephalitis. Glia 2007 Apr 1;
55(5): 483-96
Ghoshal A, Pouget P, Popescu M, Ebner F (2009). Early bilateral sensory deprivation blocks the development of coincident discharge in rat barrel cortex. Journal of Neuroscience 2009 Feb 25; 29(8): 2384-92
Ghoshal A, Tomarken A, Ebner F (2011). Cross-sensory modulation of primary sensory cortex is developmentally regulated by early sensory experience. Journal of Neuroscience 2011 Feb 16; 31(7): 2526-36
Das S, Dutta K, Kumawat KL, Ghoshal A, Adhya D, Basu A (2011). Abrogated inflammatory response promotes neurogenesis in a murine model of Japanese encephalitis. PLoS One. 2011 Mar 3;6(3):e17225.
