George Dragoi, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and of NeuroscienceCards
Appointments
Contact Info
Dragoi Lab
300 George St., Suite 9144A
New Haven, CT 06511
United States
About
Titles
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and of Neuroscience
Biography
Dr. George Dragoi is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and of Neuroscience in the Department of Psychiatry and a member of the Wu-Tsai Institute at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven. He received his M.D. degree from the Grigore Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Iasi, Romania and his Ph.D. degree in Behavioral and Neural Science from Rutgers University. He completed his postdoctoral studies and was a Research Scientist at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he revealed the existence of preconfigured cellular assemblies that pre-play in time the spatial sequences occurring during a future novel spatial experience in naive animals. Dr. Dragoi studies the dynamic interplay between externally-driven and preconfigured internally-generated representations of the external world to understand memory formation and spatial navigation. He aims to map the neural circuits and decipher the neuronal codes underlying the formation of these representations across brain development and in adulthood using large-scale high-density electrophysiology and computational methods for data analysis. Recently, he conceptualized the existence of a generative grammar in the brain that could support the brain’s ability to express internally generated representations about the world. Dr. Dragoi’ current research focuses on the role of neuronal activity and prior experience in cellular assembly organization and animal learning with implications for our better understanding of neuro-psychiatric diseases.
Appointments
Psychiatry
Associate Professor TenurePrimaryNeuroscience
Associate Professor on TermSecondary
Other Departments & Organizations
- Abraham Ribicoff Research Facilities
- Division of Molecular Psychiatry
- Division of Neurocognition, Neurocomputation & Neurogenetics
- Dragoi Lab
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program
- Neuroscience
- Neuroscience Research Training Program (NRTP)
- Neuroscience Track
- Psychiatry
- Swartz Program in Theoretical Neurobiology
- Wu Tsai Institute
- Yale Combined Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS)
Education & Training
- PhD
- Rutgers University (2002)
- MD
- Grigore Popa University of Medicine (1994)
- Research Scientist
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Research
Overview
Learned information is not encoded in isolation, but is integrated within a network of preexisting knowledge stored in patterns of neuronal ensemble functional connectivity. Our immediate goal is to investigate:
1. How these patterns emerge during development
2. How are they utilized in behavior
3. How are they disrupted in neuropsychiatric diseases.
The hippocampus, a brain structure initially implicated in rapid learning and formation of episodic memory, is now recognized to encode internally-generated spatial-temporal sequence representations. Its dysfunctions have resulted in anterograde amnesia, impaired imagining of new experiences, and hallucinations. Achieving our goal will be facilitated by our use of electrophysiological recordings of ensembles of neurons in behaving mice and rats, optogenetic manipulation of neurons, optical imaging of neuronal ensembles, and computational methods for decoding neuronal population activity.
Medical Research Interests
Public Health Interests
- View Lab Website
Dragoi Lab Site
Research at a Glance
Yale Co-Authors
Publications Timeline
Research Interests
Usman Farooq, PhD
John Krystal, MD
Hippocampus
Learning
Spatial Memory
Neuronal Plasticity
Publications
2024
Experience of Euclidean geometry sculpts the development and dynamics of rodent hippocampal sequential cell assemblies
Farooq U, Dragoi G. Experience of Euclidean geometry sculpts the development and dynamics of rodent hippocampal sequential cell assemblies. Nature Communications 2024, 15: 8417. PMID: 39341810, PMCID: PMC11438871, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52758-9.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchPublisher Correction: Nested compressed co-representations of multiple sequential experiences during sleep
Liu K, Sibille J, Dragoi G. Publisher Correction: Nested compressed co-representations of multiple sequential experiences during sleep. Nature Neuroscience 2024, 27: 1860-1860. PMID: 39147942, DOI: 10.1038/s41593-024-01751-y.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsNested compressed co-representations of multiple sequential experiences during sleep
Liu K, Sibille J, Dragoi G. Nested compressed co-representations of multiple sequential experiences during sleep. Nature Neuroscience 2024, 27: 1816-1828. PMID: 39030341, DOI: 10.1038/s41593-024-01703-6.Peer-Reviewed Original Research
2023
The generative grammar of the brain: a critique of internally generated representations
Dragoi G. The generative grammar of the brain: a critique of internally generated representations. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 2023, 25: 60-75. PMID: 38036709, DOI: 10.1038/s41583-023-00763-0.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsImportant organizational principleGenerative grammarCognitive processesNeuropsychological perspectiveRapid encodingNeurobiological perspectiveMemory consolidationNew learningBrain functionNovel experienceSpecific experiencesOrganizational principlesCompetenceLearningNeuronal selectionHippocampal neural networkRepresentationGrammarNeural networkBrainMemoryExperienceNeurobiologyEncodingSyntax
2021
Orientation selectivity enhances context generalization and generative predictive coding in the hippocampus
Liu K, Sibille J, Dragoi G. Orientation selectivity enhances context generalization and generative predictive coding in the hippocampus. Neuron 2021, 109: 3688-3698.e6. PMID: 34506724, PMCID: PMC8602755, DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.08.013.Peer-Reviewed Original Research
2020
The Ontogeny of Hippocampus-Dependent Memories
Donato F, Alberini CM, Amso D, Dragoi G, Dranovsky A, Newcombe NS. The Ontogeny of Hippocampus-Dependent Memories. Journal Of Neuroscience 2020, 41: 920-926. PMID: 33328296, PMCID: PMC7880290, DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1651-20.2020.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsHippocampus-dependent memory systemHippocampus-dependent memoryMemory systemTypes of memoryMedial temporal lobeFormation of memoryMemory reliesMemory processesMemoryTemporal lobeInfant hippocampusBiological correlatesAdult systemActivity dynamicsHippocampusRecent evidenceLearningCorrelatesFirst yearAdultsAcquisitionInfancyLifeCircuitryPlace of acquisitionCell assemblies, sequences and temporal coding in the hippocampus
Dragoi G. Cell assemblies, sequences and temporal coding in the hippocampus. Current Opinion In Neurobiology 2020, 64: 111-118. PMID: 32375084, PMCID: PMC7606333, DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2020.03.003.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchMeSH Keywords and ConceptsA consensus statement: defining terms for reactivation analysis
Genzel L, Dragoi G, Frank L, Ganguly K, de la Prida L, Pfeiffer B, Robertson E. A consensus statement: defining terms for reactivation analysis. Philosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences 2020, 375: 20200001. PMID: 32248790, PMCID: PMC7209922, DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0001.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchMeSH Keywords
2019
Strengthened Temporal Coordination within Pre-existing Sequential Cell Assemblies Supports Trajectory Replay
Farooq U, Sibille J, Liu K, Dragoi G. Strengthened Temporal Coordination within Pre-existing Sequential Cell Assemblies Supports Trajectory Replay. Neuron 2019, 103: 719-733.e7. PMID: 31253469, PMCID: PMC7197404, DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.05.040.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchEmergence of preconfigured and plastic time-compressed sequences in early postnatal development
Farooq U, Dragoi G. Emergence of preconfigured and plastic time-compressed sequences in early postnatal development. Science 2019, 363: 168-173. PMID: 30630930, PMCID: PMC6794005, DOI: 10.1126/science.aav0502.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsCritical cognitive functionsEpisodic memory formationHippocampal neuronal ensemblesMemory episodesCognitive functionMemory formationPostnatal week 4Postnatal week 3Neuronal ensemblesEarly postnatal developmentElectrophysiological activityNaïve ratsWeek 4Hippocampal neuronsPostnatal developmentWeek 3Eye openingFirst dayEncodingSequential patternsLinear environmentSleepReplay
News
News
- September 30, 2024Source: Nature Communications
Experience of Euclidean Geometry Sculpts the Development and Dynamics of Rodent Hippocampal Sequential Cell Assemblies
- August 14, 2024Source: Yale News
Sleep on It: How the Brain Processes Many Experiences — Even When ‘Offline’
- August 12, 2024Source: Medical Xpress
Exploring How the Mammalian Brain Represents Multiple Sequential Experiences During Sleep
- January 11, 2024Source: YaleNews
Re-frame of Mind: Do Our Brains Have a Built-in Sense of ‘Grammar’?
Get In Touch
Contacts
Dragoi Lab
300 George St., Suite 9144A
New Haven, CT 06511
United States