Nao Uchida Awarded Smith Family New Investigator Award
“Imagine you are driving when traveling, looking for a restaurant that you just found in a guidebook. Under such uncertain conditions, the task is not easy and requires much attention and effort. On the contrary, when you are driving home from work, this can be executed with less conscious efforts. As these examples suggest, an individual’s actions can be categorized into at least two types: one requires deliberate processes, seen as flexible and goal-directed behavior, while another is stereotyped, stimulus-bound and automatic, seen as habits or skilled actions.”
So begins the summary for Nao Uchida’s award winning project. The Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation recently announced that Harvard University Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology Nao Uchida has been awarded the Smith Family New Investigator Award. The Smith Family New Investigator Award consists of a two-year grant of $200,000 given to junior faculty in the Boston area participating in research of AIDS, cancer or cardiovascular disease and neuroscience.
“The goal of this project is to discover the mechanisms responsible for these two types of action controls, namely, goal-directed behaviors and habits”, says Uchida. “Studies in rat behavior suggest that the distinct neural circuitries in the cortical-basal ganglia network control each of these two types of behaviors. The hypothesis to be tested is that the neural circuitry that is responsible for goal-directed behavior processes information about the degree of uncertainty or expectations of a future reward more so than the one responsible for habit. To test this idea, the activity of individual neurons from these circuitries will be recorded while a rat or mouse performs decision-making tasks”.
“The significance of the proposed research is two fold. First, when successful, this project establishes powerful methodologies for the study of decision-making that combine tightly controlled behavioral paradigms with electrophysiology and molecular tools. Studying decision-making in rodents will facilitate mechanistic and biomedical studies. Second, understanding the mechanisms of decision-making is important because deficits in the neural circuits that mediate decision-making seem to underlie non-purposeful and anti-social behaviors manifested in behavioral disorders such as addictions, schizophrenia, depression, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Furthermore, deep understanding of how the basal ganglia exert their functions in action controls will provide crucial insights in Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases”.
“I am extremely delighted to receive such a generous support for our research”, says Uchida. “Research into how decisions are made has only recently begun to uncover the neural bases. While most of the studies have been done using non-human primate, our research uses rodent models in order to address mechanistic questions. Since aberrant decision-making is involved in various psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorders and addiction, our research will provide crucial insights. The award is extremely helpful in establishing such a new and exciting research program”.
The award was launched in 1991 by the Richard and Susan Smith family foundation as is awarded to younger scientists, allowing them research opportunities before they are eligible for major grants. The Program has made over $13million available to 96 junior investigators.
