Departmental homepageProfessor Paulsen has an MB and PhD from the University of Oslo, Norway. He came to the UK as a departmental lecturer in Pharmacology at the University of Oxford in 1994, followed by a University lecturership in Neuroscience at the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG), University of Oxford from 2000, before his election to the Professorship of Physiology (1883) in 2010.
Professor Paulsen teaches cellular and molecular neuroscience at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
The primary interest of Professor Paulsen's research group is the relationship between network oscillations and synaptic plasticity. Network oscillations naturally organise spike timing conducive to spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP), a strong candidate for a mechanism involved in neural development as well as learning and memory processes. His group aims to gain insight into how information can be stored as changes of synaptic weights in neural networks displaying oscillatory activity. To this end, a combination of techniques is used, including whole-cell patch-clamp and planar multi-electrode recording, calcium imaging and light-activated channels (channelrhodopsins). His group is also interested in understanding synaptic plasticity in disease processes during development (neurodevelopmental disorders) as well as during ageing (neurodegenerative disorders). For this, they use both mouse models and human cerebral organoids.
Fisahn A, Pike FG, Buhl E and Paulsen O (1998) Cholinergic induction of network oscillations at 40 Hz in the hippocampus in vitro. Nature 394: 186-189.
Shipton OA, El-Gaby M, Apergis-Schoute J, Deisseroth K, Bannerman DM, Paulsen O and Kohl MM (2014) Left-right dissociation of hippocampal memory processes in mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111: 15238-15243.
Gonzalez-Rueda A, Feord R, Pedrosa V, Clopath C, Paulsen O (2018) Activity-dependent downscaling of subthreshold synaptic inputs during slow wave sleep-like activity in vivo. Neuron 97: 1244-1252.
Hay YA, Deperrois N, Fuchsberger T, Quarrell TM, Koerling A-L, Paulsen O (2021) Thalamus mediates neocortical Down state transition via GABAB receptor-targeting interneurons. Neuron 109: 2682–2690.
