CONTACT INFORMATIONCREDENTIALSPUBLICATIONSFarran Briggs, Ph.D.Contact InformationPhone NumbersOffice: (585) 276-3736Research LabsVisit Lab WebsiteLocationsUniversity of Rochester Medical CenterSchool of Medicine and Dentistry601 Elmwood Ave, Box 603Rochester, NY 14642Faculty AppointmentsAssociate Professor - Department of Neuroscience (SMD) Associate Professor - Center for Visual Science A&S (RC) - JointBiographyResearchCritical to our comprehension of the brain is an understanding of how neuronal circuits, or the connections between neurons in the brain, underlie perception and behavior. The goals of the laboratory are to understand how neuronal circuits in the early visual system encode and process visual information and how spatial attention modulates these activities. There are two main projects that are currently underway in the laboratory. The first aims at understanding the mechanism by which visual attention modulates the activity of neurons and circuits in the early visual pathways. We have recently shown that attentional modulation of neurons in the primary visual cortex depends critically on the match between the feature selectivity of individual neurons and the features required for successful task completion. We continue to explore the mechanisms of attention at the granular and circuit level in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of visual attention. The second project in the lab is designed to elucidate the functional role of the corticogeniculate feedback circuit in visual perception. We have shown that corticogeniculate neurons connecting primary visual cortex with the visual thalamus in the feedback direction are morphologically and physiologically diverse. Recently, we utilized an innovative combination of virus-mediated gene delivery and optogenetic techniques to show that corticogeniculate feedback controls the timing and precision of thalamic responses to incoming visual information. Ongoing experiments will further define how corticogeniculate feedback regulates the flow of information about distinct visual features in the environment.CredentialsEducation1997BA | Dartmouth CollegeBiology2003PhD | University of California, San DiegoBiologyPublicationsJournal Articles7/15/2020Murphy AJ, Hasse JM, Briggs F. "Physiological characterization of a rare subpopulation of doublet-spiking neurons in the ferret lateral geniculate nucleus." Journal of neurophysiology.. 2020 Jul 15; Epub 2020 Jul 15. 7/6/2020Murphy AJ, Shaw L, Hasse JM, Goris RLT, Briggs F. "Optogenetic activation of corticogeniculate feedback stabilizes response gain and increases information coding in LGN neurons." Journal of computational neuroscience.. 2020 Jul 6; Epub 2020 Jul 06. 6/17/2020Briggs F. "Role of Feedback Connections in Central Visual Processing." Annual review of vision science.. 2020 Jun 17; Epub 2020 Jun 17. Books & Chapters2017 Chapter Title: Mammalian visual system organization Book Title: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Neuroscience Author List: Farran Briggs Edited By: W.M. Usrey and S.M. Sherman Published By: Oxford University Press 2017 in Oxford2014 Chapter Title: Functional properties of cortical feedback to the primate lateral geniculate nucleus Book Title: The New Visual Neurosciences Author List: Farran Briggs and W. Martin Usrey Published By: MIT Press 2014 in Cambridge2008 Chapter Title: Visual system structure Book Title: Encyclopedia of Perception Author List: Farran Briggs and W. Martin Usrey Edited By: B. Goldstein Published By: Sage Press 2008VIEW ALL PUBLICATIONS