Associate Professor & Chair
Phone: 352-294-8767
Office: ARB R5-204
Email: danielwesson@ufl.edu
Publications: Search PubMed
Website: Wesson Lab
Research Interests
The Wesson Lab explores the neural processing of sensory information in the context of behavior. This line of questioning provides an ideal platform to test specific hypotheses regarding the neural basis of sensory dysfunction in neurological disorders, including dementias and addiction, wherein sensory processing is aberrant. To accomplish these major goals, they utilize a variety of methods, ranging from multi-site electrophysiological recordings or optical imaging from defined brain structures in behaving animals to cutting-edge operant behavioral assays, some of which they perform in viral/genetic animal models with precise neural perturbations. The goals for their research include:
Define brain systems for sensory information processing and motivated behaviors:
The ventral striatum (VS) is an integrative network of brain structures, which: 1) processes sensory information, and 2) is necessary for both motivated behaviors and the rewarding effects of psychostimulants. The olfactory tubercle (OT) subregion of the VS resides in a likely advantageous position for guiding motivated behaviors, since it both receives monosynaptic input from the olfactory bulb and also has direct interconnectedness with other VS regions and the basal ganglia. The role of the OT in sensory-driven motivated behaviors is not defined.
A major line of research in the Wesson Lab, therefore, is to identify manners whereby the OT encodes odor sensory information and to learn how this information consequently gets distributed throughout interconnected brain structures. They are also interested in defining sources of information into the OT. Work from their group is the first to demonstrate how neurons in the OT encode odor information in behaving subjects and how these processing strategies are shaped by the learned meaning of the odors (viz., valence). They are now working to identify complementary cellular mechanisms of odor valence and understand how this information is distributed among interconnected neural ensembles.
A related major line of research in the Wesson Lab is regarding the OT’s role in motivated behaviors. Despite elegant work showing that the OT is needed for both reward behavior and psychostimulant effects on behavior, the OT is not even incorporated into many prevalent models of the brain’s reward system. This omission may in part be explained by a lack of the specific cellular mechanisms whereby the OT impacts reward-guided behavior. Work from their group is the first to demonstrate how neurons in the OT encode goal-directed actions and natural reinforcers and how these are dictated by the motivational state of the animal. Ongoing work in this lab is now resolving important features whereby the OT subserves motivated behaviors. This work is highly relevant to understanding brain mechanisms of addictive behaviors.
Define mechanisms whereby the olfactory system is shaped by cognitive state:
Cognition shapes sensory processing. Work by numerous groups has shown that olfactory perception and odor processing are both influenced by cognitive factors. The influence of attention, specifically, on the cellular processing of odors is entirely unknown. This is a very intriguing question, since olfactory cortical structures receive direct olfactory input in the absence of a thalamic relay—the proposed origin of attentionally-mediated effects in other sensory systems. Therefore, ongoing work in the Wesson Lab has invested into developing a sophistical behavioral tool to allow for manipulating selective attention to odors and testing important questions regarding the mechanisms, whereby attention shapes the representation of odor information in the brain. This work is relevant for understanding how information travels within the brain in the context of moment-to-moment changes in cognitive state, which can be impacted in many neurological disorders.
Recent Publications:
- Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptors in the Gustatory Cortex Influence Food Intake. Dossat AM, Kokoska MM, Whitaker-Fornek JR, Sniffen SE, Kulkarni AS, Levitt ES, Wesson DW. Journal of Neuroscience. 2023 Jun 7;43(23):4251-4261
- Organization and engagement of a prefrontal-olfactory network during olfactory selective attention. Cansler HL, In ‘t Zandt EE, Carlson KS, Khan WT, Ma M, Wesson DW. Cerebral Cortex. 2023 Feb 7;33(4):1504-1526.
- Strawberry Additive Increases Nicotine Vapor Sampling and Systemic Exposure But Does Not Enhance Pavlovian-Based Nicotine Reward in Mice. Patten T, Johnson NL, Shaw JK, Dossat AM, Dreier A, Kimball BA, Wesson DW, De Biasi M. eNeuro. 2023 Jun 13;10(6):ENEURO.0390-22.2023.
- Chemosensory Contributions of E-Cigarette Additives on Nicotine Use. Johnson NL, Patten T, Ma M, De Biasi M, Wesson DW. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 2022 Jul 19;16:893587.
- Machine learning-based clustering and classification of mouse behaviors via respiratory patterns. Janke E, Zhang M, Ryu SE, Bhattarai JP, Schreck MR, Moberly AH, Luo W, Ding L, Wesson DW, Ma M. iScience. 2022 Nov 19;25(12):105625.
- Ventral striatal islands of Calleja neurons control grooming in mice. Zhang YF, Vargas Cifuentes L, Wright KN, Bhattarai JP, Mohrhardt J, Fleck D, Janke E, Jiang C, Cranfill SL, Goldstein N, Schreck M, Moberly AH, Yu Y, Arenkiel BR, Betley JN, Luo W, Stegmaier J, Wesson DW*, Spehr M*, Fuccillo MV*, Ma M*. Nature Neuroscience. 2021 (12):1699-1710 *equal corresponding authors.
- The tubular striatum and nucleus accumbens distinctly represent reward-taking and reward-seeking. Wright KN, Wesson DW. Journal of Neurophysiology. 2021 Jan 1;125(1):166-183.
- The Tubular Striatum. Wesson DW. Journal of Neuroscience. 2020 Sep 23;40(39):7379-7386.
- A Neural System that Represents the Association of Odors with Rewarded Outcomes and Promotes Behavioral Engagement. Gadziola MA, Stetzik LA, Wright KN, Milton AJ, Arakawa K, Del Mar Cortijo M, Wesson DW. Cell Reports. 2020 Jul 21;32(3):107919
- Glutamatergic Neurons in the Piriform Cortex Influence the Activity of D1- and D2-Type Receptor-Expressing Olfactory Tubercle Neurons. White KA, Zhang YF, Zhang Z, Bhattarai JP, Moberly AH, In ‘t Zandt EE, Pena-Bravo JI, Mi H, Jia X, Fuccillo MV, Xu F, Ma M, Wesson DW. Journal of Neuroscience. 2019 Nov 27;39(48):9546-9559.
- Selective Attention Controls Olfactory Decisions and the Neural Encoding of Odors. Carlson KS, Gadziola MA, Dauster ES, Wesson DW. Current Biology. 2018 Jul 23;28(14):2195-2205.e4