Joshua Trachtenberg, Ph.D.

joshua.trachtenberg@gmail.com

Faculty Member

Professor
Department of Neurobiology
David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles

Neuroscience Research Building, Room 503
635 Charles E Young Dr S,
Los Angeles, CA 90095

Biography

Joshua Trachtenberg’s research seeks to understand how sensory experiences are written into the fabric of our brains. Genetics plays a dominant role in wiring together the connections between neurons that establish neural circuitry. After we are born, our brains are bombarded with information from the world around us. This sensory information changes neural circuitry, allowing us to learn a language, perform complex visual discrimination, obtain sophisticated motor skills, and learn the subtleties of social interactions. How this external sensory information instructs neural circuitry is not known. Given its centrality to complex thought, tackling this question is of some significance. The Trachtenberg lab employs a sophisticated array of vital imaging and physiological tools to reveal the richness and mechanisms of this experience-dependent plasticity.

Publications

Gorzek R, Trachtenberg JT. A Critical Look at Critical Periods.. Annual review of vision science, 2025.
Sehgal M, Filho DA, Kastellakis G, Kim S, Lee J, Shen Y, Huang S, Lavi A, Fernandes G, Davila Mejia I, Martin SS, Pekcan A, Wu MS, Heo WD, Poirazi P, Trachtenberg JT, Silva AJ. Compartmentalized dendritic plasticity in the mouse retrosplenial cortex links contextual memories formed close in time.. Nature neuroscience, 2025.
Hahn J, Monavarfeshani A, Qiao M, Kao AH, Kölsch Y, Kumar A, Kunze VP, Rasys AM, Richardson R, Wekselblatt JB, Baier H, Lucas RJ, Li W, Meister M, Trachtenberg JT, Yan W, Peng YR, Sanes JR, Shekhar K. Evolution of neuronal cell classes and types in the vertebrate retina.. Nature, 2023.
Hahn J, Monavarfeshani A, Qiao M, Kao A, Kölsch Y, Kumar A, Kunze VP, Rasys AM, Richardson R, Baier H, Lucas RJ, Li W, Meister M, Trachtenberg JT, Yan W, Peng YR, Sanes JR, Shekhar K. Evolution of neuronal cell classes and types in the vertebrate retina.. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology, 2023.
Tan L, Ringach DL, Trachtenberg JT. The Development of Receptive Field Tuning Properties in Mouse Binocular Primary Visual Cortex.. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2022.
Cheng S, Butrus S, Tan L, Xu R, Sagireddy S, Trachtenberg JT, Shekhar K, Zipursky SL. Vision-dependent specification of cell types and function in the developing cortex.. Cell, 2022.
Tan L, Ringach DL, Zipursky SL, Trachtenberg JT. Vision is required for the formation of binocular neurons prior to the classical critical period.. Current biology : CB, 2021.
Tan L, Tring E, Ringach DL, Zipursky SL, Trachtenberg JT. Vision Changes the Cellular Composition of Binocular Circuitry during the Critical Period.. Neuron, 2020.
Garcia-Junco-Clemente P, Tring E, Ringach DL, Trachtenberg JT. State-Dependent Subnetworks of Parvalbumin-Expressing Interneurons in Neocortex.. Cell reports, 2019.
Yaeger CE, Ringach DL, Trachtenberg JT. Neuromodulatory control of localized dendritic spiking in critical period cortex.. Nature, 2019.
Jimenez LO, Tring E, Trachtenberg JT, Ringach DL. Local tuning biases in mouse primary visual cortex.. Journal of neurophysiology, 2018.
Frank AC, Huang S, Zhou M, Gdalyahu A, Kastellakis G, Silva TK, Lu E, Wen X, Poirazi P, Trachtenberg JT, Silva AJ. Hotspots of dendritic spine turnover facilitate clustered spine addition and learning and memory.. Nature communications, 2018.
Garcia-Junco-Clemente P, Ikrar T, Tring E, Xu X, Ringach DL, Trachtenberg JT. An inhibitory pull-push circuit in frontal cortex.. Nature neuroscience, 2017.
Baohan A, Ikrar T, Tring E, Xu X, Trachtenberg JT. Pten and EphB4 regulate the establishment of perisomatic inhibition in mouse visual cortex.. Nature communications, 2016.
Ringach DL, Mineault PJ, Tring E, Olivas ND, Garcia-Junco-Clemente P, Trachtenberg JT. Spatial clustering of tuning in mouse primary visual cortex.. Nature communications, 2016.
Mineault PJ, Tring E, Trachtenberg JT, Ringach DL. Enhanced Spatial Resolution During Locomotion and Heightened Attention in Mouse Primary Visual Cortex.. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2016.
Trachtenberg JT. Parvalbumin Interneurons: All Forest, No Trees.. Neuron, 2015.
Trachtenberg JT. Competition, inhibition, and critical periods of cortical plasticity.. Current opinion in neurobiology, 2015.
Gdalyahu A, Lazaro M, Penagarikano O, Golshani P, Trachtenberg JT, Geschwind DH. Correction: The Autism Related Protein Contactin-Associated Protein-Like 2 (CNTNAP2) Stabilizes New Spines: An In Vivo Mouse Study.. PloS one, 2015.
Gdalyahu A, Lazaro M, Penagarikano O, Golshani P, Trachtenberg JT, Geschwind DH, Gescwind DH. The Autism Related Protein Contactin-Associated Protein-Like 2 (CNTNAP2) Stabilizes New Spines: An In Vivo Mouse Study.. PloS one, 2015.
Czajkowski R, Jayaprakash B, Wiltgen B, Rogerson T, Guzman-Karlsson MC, Barth AL, Trachtenberg JT, Silva AJ. Encoding and storage of spatial information in the retrosplenial cortex.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2014.
Garcia-Junco-Clemente P, Chow DK, Tring E, Lazaro MT, Trachtenberg JT, Golshani P. Overexpression of calcium-activated potassium channels underlies cortical dysfunction in a model of PTEN-associated autism.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2013.
Kuhlman SJ, Olivas ND, Tring E, Ikrar T, Xu X, Trachtenberg JT. A disinhibitory microcircuit initiates critical-period plasticity in the visual cortex.. Nature, 2013.
Gdalyahu A, Tring E, Polack PO, Gruver R, Golshani P, Fanselow MS, Silva AJ, Trachtenberg JT. Associative fear learning enhances sparse network coding in primary sensory cortex.. Neuron, 2012.
Wyatt RM, Tring E, Trachtenberg JT. Pattern and not magnitude of neural activity determines dendritic spine stability in awake mice.. Nature neuroscience, 2012.
Holtmaat A, de Paola V, Wilbrecht L, Trachtenberg JT, Svoboda K, Portera-Cailliau C. Imaging neocortical neurons through a chronic cranial window.. Cold Spring Harbor protocols, 2012.
Peñagarikano O, Abrahams BS, Herman EI, Winden KD, Gdalyahu A, Dong H, Sonnenblick LI, Gruver R, Almajano J, Bragin A, Golshani P, Trachtenberg JT, Peles E, Geschwind DH. Absence of CNTNAP2 leads to epilepsy, neuronal migration abnormalities, and core autism-related deficits.. Cell, 2011.
Kuhlman SJ, Tring E, Trachtenberg JT. Fast-spiking interneurons have an initial orientation bias that is lost with vision.. Nature neuroscience, 2011.
Smith SL, Trachtenberg JT. The refinement of ipsilateral eye retinotopic maps is increased by removing the dominant contralateral eye in adult mice.. PloS one, 2010.
Yuan X, Trachtenberg JT, Potter SM, Roysam B. MDL constrained 3-D grayscale skeletonization algorithm for automated extraction of dendrites and spines from fluorescence confocal images.. Neuroinformatics, 2009.
Matter C, Pribadi M, Liu X, Trachtenberg JT. Delta-catenin is required for the maintenance of neural structure and function in mature cortex in vivo.. Neuron, 2009.
Knott GW, Holtmaat A, Trachtenberg JT, Svoboda K, Welker E. A protocol for preparing GFP-labeled neurons previously imaged in vivo and in slice preparations for light and electron microscopic analysis.. Nature protocols, 2009.
Holtmaat A, Bonhoeffer T, Chow DK, Chuckowree J, De Paola V, Hofer SB, Hübener M, Keck T, Knott G, Lee WC, Mostany R, Mrsic-Flogel TD, Nedivi E, Portera-Cailliau C, Svoboda K, Trachtenberg JT, Wilbrecht L. Long-term, high-resolution imaging in the mouse neocortex through a chronic cranial window.. Nature protocols, 2009.
Chow DK, Groszer M, Pribadi M, Machniki M, Carmichael ST, Liu X, Trachtenberg JT. Laminar and compartmental regulation of dendritic growth in mature cortex.. Nature neuroscience, 2009.
Faguet J, Maranhao B, Smith SL, Trachtenberg JT. Ipsilateral eye cortical maps are uniquely sensitive to binocular plasticity.. Journal of neurophysiology, 2008.
Chen BE, Trachtenberg JT, Holtmaat AJ, Svoboda K. Long-term, high-resolution imaging in the neocortex in vivo.. CSH protocols, 2008.
Li W, Zhou Y, Jentsch JD, Brown RA, Tian X, Ehninger D, Hennah W, Peltonen L, Lönnqvist J, Huttunen MO, Kaprio J, Trachtenberg JT, Silva AJ, Cannon TD. Specific developmental disruption of disrupted-in-schizophrenia-1 function results in schizophrenia-related phenotypes in mice.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2007.
Kang H, Tian L, Son YJ, Zuo Y, Procaccino D, Love F, Hayworth C, Trachtenberg J, Mikesh M, Sutton L, Ponomareva O, Mignone J, Enikolopov G, Rimer M, Thompson W. Regulation of the intermediate filament protein nestin at rodent neuromuscular junctions by innervation and activity.. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2007.
Smith SL, Trachtenberg JT. Experience-dependent binocular competition in the visual cortex begins at eye opening.. Nature neuroscience, 2007.
Holtmaat AJ, Trachtenberg JT, Wilbrecht L, Shepherd GM, Zhang X, Knott GW, Svoboda K. Transient and persistent dendritic spines in the neocortex in vivo.. Neuron, 2005.
Trachtenberg JT, Chen BE, Knott GW, Feng G, Sanes JR, Welker E, Svoboda K. Long-term in vivo imaging of experience-dependent synaptic plasticity in adult cortex.. Nature, 2002.