Â鶹ÊÓƵ

Skip to content
Home
Farran Briggs, Ph.D.

Farran Briggs, Ph.D.

she/her/hers

Contact

Office (585) 276-3736

Looking for more Information?

Visit my lab website to learn more about my research, collaborators, latest news, etc.

Visit Research Lab Website

About Me

After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1997 with a B.A. in Biology, Dr. Briggs attended graduate school at the University of California, San Diego where she studied local cortical circuitry with Dr. Ed Callaway at the Salk Institute. She received her Ph.D. in Biology from UCSD in 2003. Dr. Brigg...
After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1997 with a B.A. in Biology, Dr. Briggs attended graduate school at the University of California, San Diego where she studied local cortical circuitry with Dr. Ed Callaway at the Salk Institute. She received her Ph.D. in Biology from UCSD in 2003. Dr. Briggs conducted her post-doctoral research at the University of California, Davis where she studied visual systems neurophysiology with Drs. Marty Usrey, Barbara Chapman, and Ron Mangun. From 2011 to 2017, Dr. Briggs was an Assistant Professor in the Physiology & Neurobiology department at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. In 2017, Dr. Briggs moved her lab to the University of Rochester, joining the Neuroscience and Brain and Cognitive Sciences departments. Dr. Briggs’ research is aimed at understanding how neuronal circuits in the early visual system encode and process visual information in healthy and in disease states, and how spatial attention modulates these activities.

Faculty Appointments

Associate Professor - Department of Neuroscience (SMD)

Associate Professor - Department of Brain/Cognitive Sciences RC (RC) - Joint

Associate Professor - Center for Visual Science A&S (RC) - Joint

Credentials

Post-doctoral Training & Residency

Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. W. Martin Usrey (co-mentored by Drs. B. Chapman, G.R. Mangun), UC Davis 2003 - 2010

Education

PhD | University of California, San Diego. Biology. 2003

BA | Dartmouth College. Biology. 1997

Awards

Scholar-in-Residence. 2022

Neuroscience Graduate Program Annual Retreat Faculty Speaker. 2018

Mentoring Award. 2016

Pathway to Independence Award. 2009 - 2014

Society for Neuroscience Chapters Postdoctoral Trainee Travel Award. 2007 - 2009

Optical Society of America Young Investigator Award. 2007

Research

Critical 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 informa...
Critical 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 four 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 demonstrated 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 the visual cortex with the visual thalamus in the feedback direction are morphologically and physiologically diverse. We have utilized an innovative combination of virus-mediated gene delivery and optogenetic techniques to show that corticogeniculate feedback controls the timing, precision, and variability 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. The third project explores physiological changes that occur in the visual thalamus following removal of retinal input, as can occur in many diseases of the eye. Related work will also explore the role of the visual thalamus and extrastriate visual cortex in visual perception following damage to primary visual cortex that occurs during stroke. Finally, a fourth project in the lab aims to decode visual responses under more natural conditions in freely moving subjects. Together, these projects utilize combinations of innovative methods to better understand the neuronal basis for visual perception in both health and disease.

Publications

Journal Articles

Shah S, Hembrook-Short J, Mock V, Briggs F

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.. 2024 August 27121 (35):e2318841121. Epub 08/22/2024.

Adusei M, Callaway EM, Usrey WM, Briggs F

eNeuro.. 2024 March 11 (3)Epub 03/15/2024.

Yang ??? J, Saionz EL, Cavanaugh MR, Fahrenthold BK, Melnick MD, Tadin D, Briggs F, Carrasco M, Huxlin KR

eNeuro.. 2024 February 2311 (3)Epub 02/23/2024.

Yang J, Saionz EL, Cavanaugh MR, Fahrenthold BK, Melnick MD, Tadin D, Briggs F, Carrasco M, Huxlin KR

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences.. 2023 September 2 Epub 09/02/2023.

Yang J, Huxlin K, Briggs F

Journal of vision.. 2023 September 123 (11):79. Epub 1900 01 01.

Hu W, Zhu S, Briggs F, Doyley MM

NeuroImage.. 2023 March 268 :119889. Epub 01/18/2023.

Shah S, Mancarella M, Hembrook-Short JR, Mock VL, Briggs F

The Journal of comparative neurology.. 2022 May 530 (7):1064-1080. Epub 05/19/2021.

Adusei M, Hasse JM, Briggs F

Brain structure & function.. 2021 December 226 (9):2777-2791. Epub 10/12/2021.

Murphy AJ, Shaw L, Hasse JM, Goris RLT, Briggs F

Journal of computational neuroscience.. 2021 August 49 (3):259-271. Epub 07/06/2020.

Briggs F

Annual review of vision science.. 2020 September 156 :313-334. Epub 06/17/2020.

Murphy AJ, Hasse JM, Briggs F

Journal of neurophysiology.. 2020 August 1124 (2):432-442. Epub 07/15/2020.

Sharafeldin A, Mock VL, Meisenhelter S, Hembrook-Short JR, Briggs F

Cerebral cortex communications.. 2020 1 (1):tgaa014. Epub 04/24/2020.

Mock VL, Luke KL, Hembrook-Short JR, Briggs F

Journal of neurophysiology.. 2019 March 1121 (3):799-822. Epub 12/12/2018.

Hasse JM, Bragg EM, Murphy AJ, Briggs F

The Journal of comparative neurology.. 2019 February 15527 (3):546-557. Epub 04/26/2018.

Hembrook-Short JR, Mock VL, Usrey WM, Briggs F

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2019 February 639 (6):1066-1076. Epub 12/12/2018.

Mock VL, Luke KL, Hembrook-Short JR, Briggs F

Journal of neurophysiology.. 2018 October 1120 (4):1625-1639. Epub 07/05/2018.

Hasse JM, Briggs F

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.. 2017 July 25114 (30):E6222-E6230. Epub 07/11/2017.

Hembrook-Short JR, Mock VL, Briggs F

Current biology : CB.. 2017 July 1027 (13):1878-1887.e5. Epub 06/22/2017.

Bragg EM, Fairless EA, Liu S, Briggs F

The Journal of comparative neurology.. 2017 April 1525 (5):1273-1290. Epub 11/21/2016.

Bragg EM, Briggs F

Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE.. 2017 February 15 (120)Epub 02/15/2017.

Hasse JM, Briggs F

Visual neuroscience.. 2017 34 Epub 11/16/2017.

Briggs F, Kiley CW, Callaway EM, Usrey WM

Neuron.. 2016 April 2090 (2):388-99. Epub 03/31/2016.

Bastos AM, Briggs F, Alitto HJ, Mangun GR, Usrey WM

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2014 May 2834 (22):7639-44. Epub 1900 01 01.

Briggs F, Mangun GR, Usrey WM

Nature.. 2013 July 25499 (7459):476-80. Epub 06/26/2013.

Briggs F, Usrey WM

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2011 August 3131 (35):12644-9. Epub 1900 01 01.

Briggs F, Usrey WM

The Journal of physiology.. 2011 January 1589 (Pt 1):33-40. Epub 08/19/2010.

Briggs F

Frontiers in neural circuits.. 2010 4 :3. Epub 02/12/2010.

Briggs F, Usrey WM

Frontiers in neuroscience.. 2010 4 :18. Epub 09/15/2010.

Briggs F, Usrey WM

Neuron.. 2009 April 1662 (1):135-46. Epub 1900 01 01.

Briggs F, Usrey WM

Frontiers in integrative neuroscience.. 2009 3 :15. Epub 07/07/2009.

Briggs F, Usrey WM

Current opinion in neurobiology.. 2008 August 18 (4):403-7. Epub 10/06/2008.

Briggs F, Usrey WM

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2007 May 1627 (20):5431-6. Epub 1900 01 01.

Briggs F, Usrey WM

Frontiers in integrative neuroscience.. 2007 1 :3. Epub 11/30/2007.

Briggs F, Usrey WM

Thalamus & related systems.. 2005 June 3 (2):133-139. Epub 1900 01 01.

Briggs F, Callaway EM

Cerebral cortex.. 2005 May 15 (5):479-88. Epub 08/18/2004.

Briggs F, Usrey WM

Nature neuroscience.. 2004 August 7 (8):796-7. Epub 1900 01 01.

Briggs F, Callaway EM

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2001 May 1521 (10):3600-8. Epub 1900 01 01.

Books

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Neuroscience (2017)

Chapter: Mammalian visual system organization

Authors: Farran Briggs

Publisher: Oxford University Press, Oxford 2017

The New Visual Neurosciences (2014)

Chapter: Functional properties of cortical feedback to the primate lateral geniculate nucleus

Authors: Farran Briggs and W. Martin Usrey

Publisher: MIT Press, Cambridge 2014

Encyclopedia of Perception (2008)

Chapter: Visual system structure

Authors: Farran Briggs and W. Martin Usrey

Publisher: Sage Press 2008

Encyclopedia of Perception (2008)

Chapter: Visual processing: primary visual cortex

Authors: Farran Briggs and W. Martin Usrey

Publisher: Sage Press 2008

Encyclopedia of Neuroscience (2008)

Chapter: Corticothalamic connections: structure and function

Authors: Farran Briggs and W. Martin USrey

Publisher: Elsevier 2008