Professor Mikko Juusola

Mikko

Professor of Systems Neuroscience
Department of Biomedical Science
The University of Sheffield
Western Bank
Sheffield S10 2TN
United Kingdom

Room: B2 222b Alfred Denny building
Telephone: +44 (0) 114 222 1087
Email: M.Juusola@sheffield.ac.uk

General

Brief career history

2013-present: Professor of Systems Neuroscience (PI), Drosophila Vision Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Science, University of Sheffield
2015-2017: High-End Foreign Expert (PI); selected by the Chinese National Recruitment Program
2013-2017: Jane and Aatos Erkko Research Fellow (PI)
2012-Present: Visiting Professor (PI), Cognition in Small Brains Institute, National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
2005-2012: Reader (PI), Drosophila Vision Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Science, University of Sheffield
2008-2012: Guest Professor (PI), National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
1999-2007: Royal Society University Research Fellow (PI), Universities of Cambridge & Sheffield
1997-1999: Academy of Finland Research Fellow (PI), University of Cambridge, UK
1996: Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Cambridge, UK
1995-1996: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dalhousie University, Canada
1993-1995: Alberta Heritage Foundation Medical Research Fellow, University of Alberta, Canada

Education

1995, Docent in Neurophysiology, University of Oulu, Finland
1993, Ph. D. (Neurophysiology), University of Oulu, Finland
1993, M.D., University of Oulu, Finland

Research interests

Neural processing, particularly in the visual system of Drosophila
Efficient codes and circuitry, form-function relationships, attention, learning and memory

In the news

Insects can see the world in much finer resolution than previously thought:

A breakthrough study by Professor Mikko Juusola, published in the journal eLife, advances our understanding of insect and human vision.

Professional activities

Selected as a High-End Foreign Expert; by the Chinese National Recruitment Program of High-End Foreign Experts (2015)
Visiting Professor and PI in State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
Visiting Professor in Department of Physics and Docent of Neurophysiology, University of Oulu, Finland
Grant reviewer for UK/EU/US/other international Research Councils and Charities
Reviewer for many leading scientific journals
Teacher in many advanced international courses
Examiner of higher degrees in UK and abroad

Invited Talks 2018

Neurofly (the 17th European Drosophila Neurobiology Conference), Krakow, September 3-9

Full publications

Google Scholar

Research

Neural mechanisms of cognition in small brains: Experiments and theory to decode perception and action

Goal:

Spearhead our Sheffield and Beijing laboratories to be among the best in the world in studying visual information processing and cognition in the Drosophila brain.

Approaches and interests:

Development and use of novel experimental and theoretical techniques and original ideas to study information processing in sensory-neural circuits in vivo.
Building innovative analytical methods and instruments & then exploiting them scientifically.
Neural processing, particularly in the Drosophila visual system, efficient codes and circuitry, form-function relationships, perception, adaptive and collective behaviours, attention, learning and memory, and cognition.

Highlighted Discoveries in:

Microsaccadic information sampling: providing hyperacute vision
Refractory sampling: why and how encoding and its costs vary with stimulus statistics
Perceptual colour map in V4: cortical coding framework for hue, saturation and lightness information
Stochastic adaptive sampling: explaining the structure and function of fly photoreceptors
Neural computations: multiple spectral inputs improve motion discrimination
Sensory evolution: information processing matches ecological demands
Decision making: intrinsic activity in the fly brain gates visual choices
Network adaptation: improving signalling in the first optic neuropil
Synaptic feedbacks: dynamic regulation of photoreceptor output
Cortical codes: action potential waveform code
Information theory: measuring information transfer of any signalling system
Neural filtering: value of ion channels in neural information transfer
In vivo experimentation: Drosophila for intracellular electrophysiology
Sensory transformations: 1^st direct efficiency estimate of sensory codes

Media Highlights

Current Grant Funding

BBSRC, UK
EPSRC, UK
ESRF, EU
DESY, Germany
The University of Sheffield, UK
National Science Foundation of China
National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Beijing, China
Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

Group Members

Boqi Du, Lab Manager in BNU, Beijing, China
Jouni Takalo, Post-Doc
Zhuoyi Song, Post-Doc
David Jaciuch, Ph.D. student / Post-Doc
Neveen Mansour, Ph.D. student
Ben Scales, Ph.D. student
Joni Kemppainen, Ph.D. student
Keivan Razban Haghighi, Ph.D. student
Luyang Guan, Postgraduate student in BNU
Yunqi Ma, Postgraduate student in BNU

Lab activities:

Collaborations

Roger C. Hardie - Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge
Shiming Tang - Beijing University, Beijing, China
Gonzalo de Polavieja - Cajal Institute, Madrid, Spain and Champalimaud Neuroscience Program, Lisbon, Portugal
Rajmund Mokso - MAX IV Laboratory, Lund Univesity, Sweden
Marko Huttula - University of Oulu, Finland
Cahir O'Kane - Genetics, University of Cambridge
Ian Meinertzhagen - Dalhousie University, Canada

Teaching

Undergraduate and postgraduate taught modules

Level 3:

BMS355 Sensory Neuroscience

Masters (MSc):

BMS6355 Sensory Neuroscience

Opportunities

If you are interested in a quantitative approach to Neuroscience and Behaviour, come to visit us.

Students from Engineering, Physics and Mathematics and Biologists with a strong motivation for quantitative work are encouraged to contact us.

Right now, we have two Ph.D. studentships open in our Sheffield laboratory, starting in summer 2018, and I am looking for suitable candidates for these posts. Rather than advertising some prefixed projects, I would like tailor these studentships to match a suitable person's research skills and interests. Could this be for you? Contact me (m.juusola@sheffield.ac.uk or +44-114-2221087) for a chat.

Mikko BBSRC

Selected publications

Journal articles

Juusola MI, Dau A, Song Z, Solanki N, Rien D, Jaciuch D, Dongre S, Blanchard F, de Polavieja GG, Hardie RC & Takalo J (2017) Microsaccadic sampling of moving image information provides Drosophila hyperacute vision. eLife, 6. View this article in WRRO
Juusola MI & Song Z (2017) How a fly photoreceptor samples light information in time. Journal of Physiology. View this article in WRRO
Juusola MI, Dau A, Zheng L & Rien D (2016) Electrophysiological Method for Recording Intracellular Voltage Responses of Drosophila Photoreceptors and Interneurons to Light Stimuli In Vivo. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 112. View this article in WRRO
Randall AS, Liu C-H, Chu B, Zhang Q, Dongre SA, Juusola M, Franze K, Wakelam MJO & Hardie RC (2015) Speed and Sensitivity of Phototransduction in Drosophila Depend on Degree of Saturation of Membrane Phospholipids. Journal of Neuroscience, 35(6), 2731-2746. View this article in WRRO
Hardie RC & Juusola M (2015) Phototransduction in Drosophila. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 34, 37-45. View this article in WRRO
Song Z & Juusola M (2014) Refractory sampling links efficiency and costs of sensory encoding to stimulus statistics.. J Neurosci, 34(21), 7216-7237. View this article in WRRO
Li M, Liu F, Juusola M & Tang S (2014) Perceptual color map in macaque visual area V4.. J Neurosci, 34(1), 202-217.
Song Z, Postma M, Billings SA, Coca D, Hardie RC & Juusola M (2012) Stochastic, adaptive sampling of information by microvilli in fly photoreceptors. Current Biology, 22(15), 1371-1380.
Wardill TJ, List O, Li X, Dongre S, McCulloch M, Ting C-Y, O'Kane CJ, Tang S, Lee C-H, Hardie RC & Juusola M (2012) Multiple spectral inputs improve motion discrimination in the Drosophila visual system.. Science, 336(6083), 925-931.
Tayoun ANA, Li X, Chu B, Hardie RC, Juusola M & Dolph PJ (2011) The drosophila SK channel (dSK) contributes to photoreceptor performance by mediating sensitivity control at the first visual network. Journal of Neuroscience, 31(39), 13897-13910.
Gonzalez-Bellido PT, Wardill TJ & Juusola MI (2011) Compound eyes and retinal information processing in miniature dipteran species match their specific ecological demands. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 108, 4224-4229. View this article in WRRO
Tang S & Juusola MI (2010) Intrinsic Activity in the Fly Brain Gates Visual Information during Behavioral Choices. PLoS One, 5(12). View this article in WRRO
Zheng L, Nikolaev A, Wardill TJ, O'Kane CJ, de Polavieja GG & Juusola M (2009) Network adaptation improves temporal representation of naturalistic stimuli in Drosophila eye: I dynamics. PLoS ONE, 4(1). View this article in WRRO
Nikolaev A, Zheng L, Wardill TJ, de Polavieja GG, Juusola MI & O'Kane CJ (2009) Network adaptation improves temporal representation of naturalistic stimuli in Drosophila eye: II mechanisms.. PLoS One(4). View this article in WRRO
Gonzalez-Bellido PT, Wardill TJ, Kostyleva R, Meinertzhagen IA & Juusola MI (2009) Overexpressing Temperature-Sensitive Dynamin Decelerates Phototransduction and Bundles Microtubules in Drosophila Photoreceptors.. Journal of Neuroscience, 29, 14199-14210. View this article in WRRO
Pantazis A, Segaran A, Liu CH, Nikolaev A, Rister J, Thum AS, Roeder T, Semenov E, Juusola M & Hardie RC (2008) Distinct roles for two histamine receptors (hclA and hclB) at the Drosophila photoreceptor synapse. Journal of Neuroscience, 28(29), 7250-7259.
Faivre OC & Juusola MI (2008) Visual coding in locust photoreceptors.. PLoS One, 3(5). View this article in WRRO
Juusola M, Robinson HPC & de Polavieja GG (2007) Coding with spike shapes and graded potentials in cortical networks.. Bioessays, 29(2), 178-187.
McQuibban GA, Lee JR, Zheng L, Juusola M & Freeman M (2006) Normal mitochondrial dynamics requires rhomboid-7 and affects Drosophila lifespan and neuronal function.. Curr Biol, 16(10), 982-989.
Zheng L, de Polavieja GG, Wolfram V, Asyali MH, Hardie RC & Juusola M (2006) Feedback network controls photoreceptor output at the layer of first visual synapses in Drosophila.. J Gen Physiol, 127(5), 495-510.
Vähäsöyrinki M, Niven JE, Hardie RC, Weckström M & Juusola M (2006) Robustness of neural coding in Drosophila photoreceptors in the absence of slow delayed rectifier K+ channels.. J Neurosci, 26(10), 2652-2660.
de Polavieja GG, Harsch A, Kleppe I, Robinson HPC & Juusola M (2005) Stimulus history reliably shapes action potential waveforms of cortical neurons.. J Neurosci, 25(23), 5657-5665.
Juusola M & de Polavieja GG (2003) The rate of information transfer of naturalistic stimulation by graded potentials.. J Gen Physiol, 122(2), 191-206.
Niven JE, Vähäsöyrinki M, Kauranen M, Hardie RC, Juusola M & Weckström M (2003) The contribution of Shaker K+ channels to the information capacity of Drosophila photoreceptors.. Nature, 421(6923), 630-634.
Hardie RC, Martin F, Cochrane GW, Juusola M, Georgiev P & Raghu P (2002) Molecular basis of amplification in Drosophila phototransduction: roles for G protein, phospholipase C, and diacylglycerol kinase.. Neuron, 36(4), 689-701.
Hardie RC, Raghu P, Moore S, Juusola M, Baines RA & Sweeney ST (2001) Calcium influx via TRP channels is required to maintain PIP2 levels in Drosophila photoreceptors.. Neuron, 30(1), 149-159.
Juusola M & Hardie RC (2001) Light adaptation in Drosophila photoreceptors: II. Rising temperature increases the bandwidth of reliable signaling.. J Gen Physiol, 117(1), 27-42.
Juusola M & Hardie RC (2001) Light adaptation in Drosophila photoreceptors: I. Response dynamics and signaling efficiency at 25 degrees C.. J Gen Physiol, 117(1), 3-25.
Juusola M & French AS (1997) The efficiency of sensory information coding by mechanoreceptor neurons.. Neuron, 18(6), 959-968.
Juusola M & French AS (1997) Visual acuity for moving objects in first- and second-order neurons of the fly compound eye.. J Neurophysiol, 77(3), 1487-1495.
Juusola M, French AS, Uusitalo RO & Weckström M (1996) Information processing by graded-potential transmission through tonically active synapses.. Trends Neurosci, 19(7), 292-297.
Juusola M, Weckström M, Uusitalo RO, Korenberg MJ & French AS (1995) Nonlinear models of the first synapse in the light-adapted fly retina.. J Neurophysiol, 74(6), 2538-2547.
Uusitalo RO, Juusola M, Kouvalainen E & Weckström M (1995) Tonic transmitter release in a graded potential synapse.. J Neurophysiol, 74(1), 470-473.
Juusola M, Uusitalo RO & Weckström M (1995) Transfer of graded potentials at the photoreceptor-interneuron synapse.. J Gen Physiol, 105(1), 117-148.
Juusola M, Kouvalainen E, Järvilehto M & Weckström M (1994) Contrast gain, signal-to-noise ratio, and linearity in light-adapted blowfly photoreceptors.. J Gen Physiol, 104(3), 593-621.
Juusola M & Weckström M (1993) Band-pass filtering by voltage-dependent membrane in an insect photoreceptor.. Neurosci Lett, 154(1-2), 84-88.
JUUSOLA M (1993) LINEAR AND NONLINEAR CONTRAST CODING IN LIGHT-ADAPTED BLOWFLY PHOTORECEPTORS. J COMP PHYSIOL A, 172(4), 511-521.
WECKSTROM M, JUUSOLA M & LAUGHLIN SB (1992) PRESYNAPTIC ENHANCEMENT OF SIGNAL TRANSIENTS IN PHOTORECEPTOR TERMINALS IN THE COMPOUND EYE. P ROY SOC LOND B BIO, 250(1327), 83-89.
Weckström M, Kouvalainen E & Juusola M (1992) Measurement of cell impedance in frequency domain using discontinuous current clamp and white-noise-modulated current injection.. Pflugers Arch, 421(5), 469-472.