Dr Michael Kohl
- Senior Lecturer (Centre for Neuroscience)
Research interests
Biography
Michael Kohl received a B.Sc in Neuroscience (2005) from University College London, and, as part of the Wellcome Trust Oxford Ion Channel Initiative, a D.Phil in Physiology (2009) from the University of Oxford. He carried out his postdoctoral studies at the University of Cambridge and Stanford University (2010-2011) and the University of California, Berkeley (2012-2013). He became an Early Career Research Fellow at the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics in 2013 and University Research Lecturer in 2018. He took up a Senior Lectureship in Neuroscience in the Centre for Neuroscience at the University of Glasgow in 2018.
Research interests
Research in our laboratory (www.kohllab.org) focuses on how neural activity in primary sensory cortices integrates with activity in a higher order cortex, such as the retrosplenial cortex. We combine theoretical studies to make quantitative predictions about population codes and their information content to help us guide experiments. We also continue to develop novel experimental tools and analysis approaches.
Our ongoing research is broadly focused on three projects:
- Role of interneurons in somatosensory perception: We study how different types of inhibitory interneurons are optimised for controlling neural codes.
- Role of hippocampus and retrosplenial cortex in associative memory: We study the interplay of hippocampus and sensory cortices with the retrosplenial cortex during the formation and retrieval of associative memories.
- Tool development: We develop novel approaches for recording and manipulating the function of large populations of neurons.
Publications
Selected publications
All publications
2024
Panniello, M., Gillon, C. J., Mafful, R., Celotto, M., Richards, B. A., Panzen, S. and Kohl, M. M. (2024) Stimulus information guides the emergence of behavior-related signals in primary somatosensory cortex during learning. Cell Reports, 43(6), 114244. (doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114244)
Park, K., Kohl, M. M. and Kwag, J. (2024) Memory encoding and retrieval by retrosplenial parvalbumin interneurons is impaired in Alzheimer's disease model mice. Current Biology, 34(2), 434-443.e4. (doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.014) (PMID:38157861)
2023
Panniello, M., Limal, S. A.C. and Kohl, M. M. (2023) Imaging somatosensory cortex in rodents. In: Holmes, N.P. (ed.) Somatosensory Research Methods. Series: Neuromethods, 196 (196). Humana: New York, NY, pp. 373-396. ISBN 9781071630686 (doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3068-6_17)
2022
Baruchin, L. J., Ghezzi, F., Kohl, M. M. and Butt, S. J.B. (2022) Contribution of interneuron subtype-specific GABAergic signalling to emergent sensory processing in mouse somatosensory whisker barrel cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 32(12), pp. 2538-2554. (doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhab363) (PMID:34613375) (PMCID:PMC9201598)
Akam, T. et al. (2022) Open-source, Python-based, hardware and software for controlling behavioural neuroscience experiments. eLife, 11, e67846. (doi: 10.7554/eLife.67846) (PMID:35043782) (PMCID:PMC8769647)
2021
Prince, L. Y., Tran, M. M., Grey, D., Saad, L., Chasiotis, H., Kwag, J., Kohl, M. M. and Richards, B. A. (2021) Neocortical inhibitory interneuron subtypes are differentially attuned to synchrony- and rate-coded information. Communications Biology, 4, 935. (doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02437-y) (PMID:34354206) (PMCID:PMC8342442)
2020
Jang, H. J., Chung, H., Rowland, J. M., Richards, B. A., Kohl, M. M. and Kwag, J. (2020) Distinct roles of parvalbumin and somatostatin interneurons in gating the synchronization of spike-times in the neocortex. Science Advances, 6(17), eaay5333. (doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aay5333) (PMID:32426459) (PMCID:PMC7176419)
Chung, H., Park, K., Jang, H. J., Kohl, M. M. and Kwag, J. (2020) Dissociation of somatostatin and parvalbumin interneurons circuit dysfunctions underlying hippocampal theta and gamma oscillations impaired by amyloid β oligomers in vivo. Brain Structure and Function, 225, pp. 935-954. (doi: 10.1007/s00429-020-02044-3) (PMID:32107637) (PMCID:PMC7166204)
Park, K., Lee, J., Jang, H. J., Richards, B. A., Kohl, M. M. and Kwag, J. (2020) Optogenetic activation of parvalbumin and somatostatin interneurons selectively restores theta-nested gamma oscillations and oscillation-induced spike timing-dependent long-term potentiation impaired by amyloid β oligomers. BMC Biology, 18, 7. (doi: 10.1186/s12915-019-0732-7) (PMID:31937327) (PMCID:PMC6961381)
2019
Chong, E. Z., Panniello, M., Barreiros, I., Kohl, M. M. and Booth, M. J. (2019) Quasi-simultaneous multiplane calcium imaging of neuronal circuits. Biomedical Optics Express, 10(1), pp. 267-282. (doi: 10.1364/BOE.10.000267) (PMID:30775099) (PMCID:PMC6363184)
2018
Khadria, A., Fleischhauer, J., Boczarow, I., Wilkinson, J. D., Kohl, M. M. and Anderson, H. L. (2018) Porphyrin dyes for nonlinear optical imaging of live cells. iScience, 4, pp. 153-163. (doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2018.05.015) (PMID:30240737) (PMCID:PMC6147020)
2017
Kohl, M. M. and Kätzel, D. (2017) Optogenetic mapping of neuronal connections and their plasticity. In: Appasani, K. (ed.) Optogenetics: From Neuronal Function to Mapping and Disease Biology. Cambridge University Press,: Cambridge, pp. 224-238. ISBN 9781107053014 (doi: 10.1017/9781107281875.018)
Brown, T. G., Cogswell, C. J., Wilson, T., Chong, E. Z., Barreiros, I., Li, B., Kohl, M. M. and Booth, M. J. (2017) Fast Multiplane Functional Imaging Combining Acousto-optic Switching and Remote Focusing. In: Three-Dimensional and Multidimensional Microscopy: Image Acquisition and Processing XXIV, San Francisco, CA, USA, 30 Jan - 01 Feb 2017, 100700X. ISBN 9781510605817 (doi: 10.1117/12.2251476)
El-Gaby, M., Kohl, M. M. and Paulsen, O. (2017) Optogenetic methods to study lateralized synaptic function. In: Rogers, L. J. and Vallortigara, G. (eds.) Lateralized Brain Functions: Methods in Human and Non-Human Species. Series: Neuromethods (122). Humana Press: New York, NY, pp. 331-365. ISBN 9781493967230 (doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-6725-4_11)
2014
Shipton, O. A., El-Gaby, M., Apergis-Schoute, J., Deisseroth, K., Bannerman, D. M., Paulsen, O. and Kohl, M. M. (2014) Left–right dissociation of hippocampal memory processes in mice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(42), pp. 15238-15243. (doi: 10.1073/pnas.1405648111) (PMID:25246561) (PMCID:PMC4210314)
2012
Botcherby, E. J., Smith, C. W., Kohl, M. M. , Débarre, D., Booth, M. J., Juškaitis, R., Paulsen, O. and Wilson, T. (2012) Aberration-free three-dimensional multiphoton imaging of neuronal activity at kHz rates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(8), pp. 2919-2924. (doi: 10.1073/pnas.1111662109) (PMID:22315405) (PMCID:PMC3286923)
Reeve, J. E., Kohl, M. M. , Rodríguez-Moreno, A., Paulsen, O. and Anderson, H. L. (2012) Caged intracellular NMDA receptor blockers for the study of subcellular ion channel function. Communicative and Integrative Biology, 5(3), pp. 240-242. (doi: 10.4161/cib.19400) (PMID:22896783) (PMCID:PMC3419105)
2011
Kohl, M. M. , Shipton, O. A., Deacon, R. M., Rawlins, J. N. P., Deisseroth, K. and Paulsen, O. (2011) Hemisphere-specific optogenetic stimulation reveals left-right asymmetry of hippocampal plasticity. Nature Neuroscience, 14(11), pp. 1413-1415. (doi: 10.1038/nn.2915) (PMID:21946328) (PMCID:PMC3754824)
Rodríguez-Moreno, A., Kohl, M. M. , Reeve, J. E., Eaton, T. R., Collins, H. A., Anderson, H. L. and Paulsen, O. (2011) Presynaptic induction and expression of timing-dependent long-term depression demonstrated by compartment-specific photorelease of a use-dependent NMDA receptor antagonist. Journal of Neuroscience, 31(23), pp. 8564-8569. (doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0274-11.2011) (PMID:21653860) (PMCID:PMC4299820)
2010
Kohl, M. M. and Paulsen, O. (2010) The roles of GABAB receptors in cortical network activity. Advances in Pharmacology, 58, pp. 205-229. (doi: 10.1016/s1054-3589(10)58009-8) (PMID:20655484)
2009
Mann, E. O., Kohl, M. M. and Paulsen, O. (2009) Distinct roles of GABAA and GABAB receptors in balancing and terminating persistent cortical activity. Journal of Neuroscience, 29(23), pp. 7513-7518. (doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.6162-08.2009) (PMID:19515919) (PMCID:PMC4326656)
Reeve, J. E., Collins, H. A., De Mey, K., Kohl, M. M. , Thorley, K. J., Paulsen, O., Clays, K. and Anderson, H. L. (2009) Amphiphilic porphyrins for second harmonic generation imaging. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 131(8), pp. 2758-2759. (doi: 10.1021/ja8061369) (PMID:19209855)
Articles
Panniello, M., Gillon, C. J., Mafful, R., Celotto, M., Richards, B. A., Panzen, S. and Kohl, M. M. (2024) Stimulus information guides the emergence of behavior-related signals in primary somatosensory cortex during learning. Cell Reports, 43(6), 114244. (doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114244)
Park, K., Kohl, M. M. and Kwag, J. (2024) Memory encoding and retrieval by retrosplenial parvalbumin interneurons is impaired in Alzheimer's disease model mice. Current Biology, 34(2), 434-443.e4. (doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.014) (PMID:38157861)
Baruchin, L. J., Ghezzi, F., Kohl, M. M. and Butt, S. J.B. (2022) Contribution of interneuron subtype-specific GABAergic signalling to emergent sensory processing in mouse somatosensory whisker barrel cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 32(12), pp. 2538-2554. (doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhab363) (PMID:34613375) (PMCID:PMC9201598)
Akam, T. et al. (2022) Open-source, Python-based, hardware and software for controlling behavioural neuroscience experiments. eLife, 11, e67846. (doi: 10.7554/eLife.67846) (PMID:35043782) (PMCID:PMC8769647)
Prince, L. Y., Tran, M. M., Grey, D., Saad, L., Chasiotis, H., Kwag, J., Kohl, M. M. and Richards, B. A. (2021) Neocortical inhibitory interneuron subtypes are differentially attuned to synchrony- and rate-coded information. Communications Biology, 4, 935. (doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02437-y) (PMID:34354206) (PMCID:PMC8342442)
Jang, H. J., Chung, H., Rowland, J. M., Richards, B. A., Kohl, M. M. and Kwag, J. (2020) Distinct roles of parvalbumin and somatostatin interneurons in gating the synchronization of spike-times in the neocortex. Science Advances, 6(17), eaay5333. (doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aay5333) (PMID:32426459) (PMCID:PMC7176419)
Chung, H., Park, K., Jang, H. J., Kohl, M. M. and Kwag, J. (2020) Dissociation of somatostatin and parvalbumin interneurons circuit dysfunctions underlying hippocampal theta and gamma oscillations impaired by amyloid β oligomers in vivo. Brain Structure and Function, 225, pp. 935-954. (doi: 10.1007/s00429-020-02044-3) (PMID:32107637) (PMCID:PMC7166204)
Park, K., Lee, J., Jang, H. J., Richards, B. A., Kohl, M. M. and Kwag, J. (2020) Optogenetic activation of parvalbumin and somatostatin interneurons selectively restores theta-nested gamma oscillations and oscillation-induced spike timing-dependent long-term potentiation impaired by amyloid β oligomers. BMC Biology, 18, 7. (doi: 10.1186/s12915-019-0732-7) (PMID:31937327) (PMCID:PMC6961381)
Chong, E. Z., Panniello, M., Barreiros, I., Kohl, M. M. and Booth, M. J. (2019) Quasi-simultaneous multiplane calcium imaging of neuronal circuits. Biomedical Optics Express, 10(1), pp. 267-282. (doi: 10.1364/BOE.10.000267) (PMID:30775099) (PMCID:PMC6363184)
Khadria, A., Fleischhauer, J., Boczarow, I., Wilkinson, J. D., Kohl, M. M. and Anderson, H. L. (2018) Porphyrin dyes for nonlinear optical imaging of live cells. iScience, 4, pp. 153-163. (doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2018.05.015) (PMID:30240737) (PMCID:PMC6147020)
Shipton, O. A., El-Gaby, M., Apergis-Schoute, J., Deisseroth, K., Bannerman, D. M., Paulsen, O. and Kohl, M. M. (2014) Left–right dissociation of hippocampal memory processes in mice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(42), pp. 15238-15243. (doi: 10.1073/pnas.1405648111) (PMID:25246561) (PMCID:PMC4210314)
Botcherby, E. J., Smith, C. W., Kohl, M. M. , Débarre, D., Booth, M. J., Juškaitis, R., Paulsen, O. and Wilson, T. (2012) Aberration-free three-dimensional multiphoton imaging of neuronal activity at kHz rates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(8), pp. 2919-2924. (doi: 10.1073/pnas.1111662109) (PMID:22315405) (PMCID:PMC3286923)
Reeve, J. E., Kohl, M. M. , Rodríguez-Moreno, A., Paulsen, O. and Anderson, H. L. (2012) Caged intracellular NMDA receptor blockers for the study of subcellular ion channel function. Communicative and Integrative Biology, 5(3), pp. 240-242. (doi: 10.4161/cib.19400) (PMID:22896783) (PMCID:PMC3419105)
Kohl, M. M. , Shipton, O. A., Deacon, R. M., Rawlins, J. N. P., Deisseroth, K. and Paulsen, O. (2011) Hemisphere-specific optogenetic stimulation reveals left-right asymmetry of hippocampal plasticity. Nature Neuroscience, 14(11), pp. 1413-1415. (doi: 10.1038/nn.2915) (PMID:21946328) (PMCID:PMC3754824)
Rodríguez-Moreno, A., Kohl, M. M. , Reeve, J. E., Eaton, T. R., Collins, H. A., Anderson, H. L. and Paulsen, O. (2011) Presynaptic induction and expression of timing-dependent long-term depression demonstrated by compartment-specific photorelease of a use-dependent NMDA receptor antagonist. Journal of Neuroscience, 31(23), pp. 8564-8569. (doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0274-11.2011) (PMID:21653860) (PMCID:PMC4299820)
Kohl, M. M. and Paulsen, O. (2010) The roles of GABAB receptors in cortical network activity. Advances in Pharmacology, 58, pp. 205-229. (doi: 10.1016/s1054-3589(10)58009-8) (PMID:20655484)
Mann, E. O., Kohl, M. M. and Paulsen, O. (2009) Distinct roles of GABAA and GABAB receptors in balancing and terminating persistent cortical activity. Journal of Neuroscience, 29(23), pp. 7513-7518. (doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.6162-08.2009) (PMID:19515919) (PMCID:PMC4326656)
Reeve, J. E., Collins, H. A., De Mey, K., Kohl, M. M. , Thorley, K. J., Paulsen, O., Clays, K. and Anderson, H. L. (2009) Amphiphilic porphyrins for second harmonic generation imaging. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 131(8), pp. 2758-2759. (doi: 10.1021/ja8061369) (PMID:19209855)
Book Sections
Panniello, M., Limal, S. A.C. and Kohl, M. M. (2023) Imaging somatosensory cortex in rodents. In: Holmes, N.P. (ed.) Somatosensory Research Methods. Series: Neuromethods, 196 (196). Humana: New York, NY, pp. 373-396. ISBN 9781071630686 (doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3068-6_17)
Kohl, M. M. and Kätzel, D. (2017) Optogenetic mapping of neuronal connections and their plasticity. In: Appasani, K. (ed.) Optogenetics: From Neuronal Function to Mapping and Disease Biology. Cambridge University Press,: Cambridge, pp. 224-238. ISBN 9781107053014 (doi: 10.1017/9781107281875.018)
El-Gaby, M., Kohl, M. M. and Paulsen, O. (2017) Optogenetic methods to study lateralized synaptic function. In: Rogers, L. J. and Vallortigara, G. (eds.) Lateralized Brain Functions: Methods in Human and Non-Human Species. Series: Neuromethods (122). Humana Press: New York, NY, pp. 331-365. ISBN 9781493967230 (doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-6725-4_11)
Conference Proceedings
Brown, T. G., Cogswell, C. J., Wilson, T., Chong, E. Z., Barreiros, I., Li, B., Kohl, M. M. and Booth, M. J. (2017) Fast Multiplane Functional Imaging Combining Acousto-optic Switching and Remote Focusing. In: Three-Dimensional and Multidimensional Microscopy: Image Acquisition and Processing XXIV, San Francisco, CA, USA, 30 Jan - 01 Feb 2017, 100700X. ISBN 9781510605817 (doi: 10.1117/12.2251476)
Grants
Grants and Awards listed are those received whilst working with the University of Glasgow.
- Rescuing AD-related changes in spine density and calcium dynamics using a novel TrkB agonist
Alzheimer`s Research UK
2022 - 2023
- Restoring hippocampal-cortical memory consolidation in models of Alzheimer's Disease
Medical Research Council
2019 - 2022
Supervision
Supervised Postgraduate Students
- Alberto Failla (Postgraduate)
- Kai Lo (Postgraduate)
Research Assistants
- Ana Carolina Bottura de Barros (Research Associate)
- Eleonore Duvelle (Research Associate)
- Philip Graemer (Affiliate)
- Luca Kaemmer (Data Analyst)
- Severin Limal (Affiliate)
Visiting Collaborator
- Mariangela Panniello (External Collaborator)
Teaching
Programmes
- MSc Brain Sciences (Programme Deputy Leader)
- BSc/MSci Neuroscience
Courses
- BIOL5283 - Fundamentals of Neuroscience Research (Course Leader)
- BIOL5364 - Designing a Research Project
- BIOL5316p - Brain Sciences Research Project
- BIOL5313 - Current Research Topics in Psychology, Neuroscience & Brain Imaging
- Neuromodulation & Synaptic Plasticity 4C Option
Professional activities & recognition
Prizes, awards & distinctions
- 2015: Young Investigator Award (Human Frontiers Science Programme)
- 2018: University Research Lectureship (University of Oxford)
Research fellowships
- 2013 - 2016: Long Term Fellowship, Human Frontiers Science Programme
- 2013 - 2018: Early Career Research Fellowship, University of Oxford