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UID:2026100910494720261119T16000020261119T1700006ac96f8b3cfb2@uic.edu
CATEGORIES:MEETING
STATUS:TENTATIVE
DTSTAMP:20260828T110346Z
DTSTART:20261119T160000
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SUMMARY:LIN Seminar: "Toward a quantitative atlas of retinal waves: developmental trajectories and their perturbation" by Alex Tiriac (Vanderbilt University)
DESCRIPTION:Please join us November 19\, 2026 at 4pm in SELE 4289 for a LIN Seminar featuring "Toward a quantitative atlas of retinal waves: developmental trajectories and their perturbation" by Dr. Alex Tiriac (Vanderbilt University)    Tiriac Lab    Host: Anna Vlasits    Abstract: Before the onset of sensory experience\, developing neural circuits generate spontaneous\, patterned activity that refines synaptic connectivity. In the developing retina\, propagating bursts of activity termed “retinal waves” transition across stages mediated by distinct circuits and neurotransmitters\, principally cholinergic and glutamatergic circuits. The spatiotemporal properties of retinal waves\, like their frequency\, size\, and propagation bias\, instruct multiple aspects of visual system development. Consequently\, most open questions in the field\, like which circuits establish directional bias\, whether models of neurodevelopmental disorders show altered wave structure\, and how environmental factors perturb early activity\, are fundamentally quantitative questions about the spatiotemporal properties of waves. Thus\, progress in the field depends directly on how reliably the spatiotemporal properties of waves can be measured. Yet\, current approaches rely on modality-specific\, manually curated analyses that neither scale nor support comparison across laboratories.    I will present ongoing work built around a new analytical framework that automatically detects\, segregates\, and quantifies individual retinal waves from high-density microelectrode array and calcium imaging data. Treating the individual wave as the unit of analysis shows that some wave properties are dynamic on an hourly basis\, and that a minority of waves begins to carry the bulk of phasic activity late in the first two postnatal weeks\, which has direct consequences for how any perturbation should be assessed. Building on these results\, we are constructing a quantitative atlas of retinal waves from birth to eye opening. Specifically\, we cluster waves by their spatiotemporal features to reveal a continuous developmental trajectory rather than discrete stages\, allowing “wave age” to be expressed as a position along that trajectory. Using ultra-long recordings\, we find this trajectory is preserved ex vivo: waves recorded a day into a recording resemble those of a fresh\, age-matched retina\, opening a route to acute developmental\, pharmacological\, and plasticity experiments. Finally\, we apply this pipeline to interrogate the teratogenic impact of early nicotine exposure\, revealing how exogenous cholinergic disruption alters spontaneous network dynamics. | Event post: https://bios.uic.edu/events?page_id=12721
LOCATION:SELE 4289    Select 
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