Timothy Burbridge

BIOGRAPHY

Timothy Burbridge is an Associate Faculty Member who works with Faculty Member Michael Crair to recommend the scientific literature in their field.

Tim Burbridge also has responsibility for checking the contents of the following journals to ensure that the highest quality research relevant to their own interests within these publications is comprehensively and systematically evaluated for F1000:

- Neural Development
- Journal of Neuroscience Research

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Graduate Student, Department of Neurobiology, Yale University

EDUCATION:
• June 2006 BA in Biology with Concentration in Neuroscience, Williams College, Williamstown
• September 2006- January 2008 Harvard Extension School, Cambridge

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
I am interested in the development of sensory circuits and the role that activity plays in determining the precise connections that are largely set at early stages in brain development. The current model of circuit development postulates a combination between molecular gradients and adhesion molecules guiding axons along pathways to branch at appropriate targets and activity-dependent production and pruning of axon and dendrite branches. The balance between these two mechanisms is thought to be heavily scewed towards molecular determination in invertebrates, with an increased role of activity-dependent mechanisms expected in mammals. The mouse visual pathway provides a model to study both mechanisms of circuit development, with known molecular gradients combining with spontaneous patterns of retinal activity in neonatal pups to determine precise patterning in retinorecipient areas. I am currently working on defining the roles of axon guidance and cell adhesion molecules in the development of the retinotopic map in the mouse superior colliculus, and I plan on using new techniques of in vivo imaging to further delineate the effects of these molecules and spontaneous retinal activity on axon targeting and synapse formation in the mouse visual pathway.

HOME PAGE
http://info.med.yale.edu/neurobio/crair/CVs/TJBurbridgeCV.pdf