3/28/25 Alex Tiriac: Understanding the role of spontaneous activity on brain development
Neuroscience Brown Bag
Alex Tiriac, PhD
Hooley Family Dean’s Faculty Fellow
Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.
The Vanderbilt Brain Institute
Date: Friday, March 28, 2025
Time: 1:25-2:15 pm
Location: Wilson Hall 316
Understanding the role of spontaneous activity on brain development
Spontaneous neural activity is a hallmark of the developing nervous system, playing critical roles in circuit formation and refinement. The Tiriac Lab investigates how these intrinsically generated activity patterns shape neural development, with a particular emphasis on the visual system. Utilizing multidisciplinary approaches, including imaging techniques, electrophysiological recordings, and genetic manipulation, we have characterized the spatial and temporal dynamics of spontaneous activity and revealed its essential contributions to visual circuit maturation. In this talk, I will present an overview of our lab’s past and current projects, highlighting novel insights about the circuits that may influence spontaneous activities and the tools we are building to study the role of spontaneous activity on visual system development. I will also briefly introduce a new research direction in the lab aiming at understanding the role of spontaneous activity on the development of proprioceptive maps.