Alessandra Raspanti, University of Turin

Friday, 9th March – h. 14:00
Seminars Room, NICO

Alessandra Raspanti, PhD
Lab of Cellular and Molecular Determinants of Intellectual Disabilities - Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin
Netherland Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam

Development of multisensory inputs to higher order visual cortex

Visual neurons encode specific features of the environment and, accordingly, they are arranged into feature-specific networks such as topographic maps. Before the onset of vision, neural connections undergo significant refinement, resulting in precise local circuits underlying these networks.

Correlated spontaneous activity is observed throughout development and its patterns are instrumental for refinement. However, little is known about the development of cortical areas that integrate information from multiple sensory modalities such as the higher order visual areas (HVA). By performing 2-photon calcium imaging in awake mice I investigated the role of spontaneous activity in the refinement and alignment of the inputs to HVA.

Host: Silvia De Marchis