USF’s George Spirou and colleagues are using high-tech imaging and virtual reality to understand developmental disorders and provide earlier, more effective treatments for brain injuries and diseases. They are focusing on the part of the brain that processes sound, “the calyx of Held,” which is the largest nerve terminal in the human brain.

“Even though we’re focusing on a specific part of the brain involved in hearing, the information we gather can help us understand serious developmental disorders that happen when the brain doesn’t develop properly early on,” says Spirou. The team is capturing the journey of neurons in mice from birth to their establishment of synaptic connections and using VR to examine the neurons in the images and analyze the synapses.

• George Spirou