Agnes L. Bodor
Scientist III
Agnes L. Bodor joined the Allen Institute in 2013 with over 10 years of experience in laboratory research. She is currently working to reconstruct the mouse visual cortex as a part of the neural coding group. Prior to joining the Allen Institute, Bodor was a scientist at the University of Washington where she used classical anatomical methods such as light and electron microscopy to examine the structure and connectivity of the songbird brain. Her current research interests include the use of cortical cell labels and electron microscopic serial sections to reconstruct the connectivity of the mouse visual cortex. This will help us to understand structure and connectivity in relation to function in the mammalian neocortex. Bodor received a baccalaureate degree in structural and functional neurobiology from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest and a Ph.D. in neurobiology from Semmelweis University in Budapest, where she studied the ultrastructure of inhibitory synaptic innervation of the mammalian thalamus.
research focus
The large numbers of cortical neurons with diverse anatomical and physiological properties form millions of internal connections and also receive information from the outside world and transmit information to other areas of the central nervous system. My research group uses the mouse visual cortex as a representative animal model of the mammalian neocortex. To understand the principles of information transmission and processing in the mouse visual cortex we label functionally characterized cells and their synaptic partners, then we examine their connectivity together with all the other inputs they receive using large-scale three-dimensional reconstruction of the area at electron microscope level. Our result will help us to understand all the connections and circuits within the cortex at a level of a single synapse which later allow us to make a more accurate computational model of the mammalian neocortex, the area associated with the higher functions of our brain such as perception, generating motor command, and conscious thought.
