Faculty & Staff

George Spirou

George Spirou | Medical Engineering | University of South Florida  
Office: 7037C ISA | Phone: 813-974-1425 | Email  | Laboratory

EDUCATION
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
Ph.D.   Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 
M.S. Physiology, Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana 
B.S. Physics / Philosophy, Denison University, Granville, Ohio 

RESEARCH AREAS
Research in the Spirou laboratory is focused on formation of neural circuits in early development and on construction of connectomes, or neural wiring diagrams, at nanoscale resolution. The generation of large image volumes for this work necessitated development of tools to understand these complex data sets. Leveraging long-standing interest in 3D reconstruction of brain structure, he and collaborators joined the revolution in immersive virtual reality to develop software for viewing, annotating and analyzing images.

MEMBERSHIPS
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Physiological Society
Association for Research in Otolaryngology
Sigma-Xi
Society for Neuroscience

COURSES TAUGHT
BME 4931/693 - Connectomics: Wiring the Nervous System
BME 6920 -  Seminars in Medical Engineering

RESEARCH GRANTS
National Institutes of Health (NIDCD) R01; “The Nanoscale Connectome of the Cochlear Nucleus”; Corresponding Co-PI
National Institutes of Health (NIDCD) R01, “Development of the calyx of Held”; PI
National Institutes of Health (NIDCD) R01: “Modulation of exocytosis and excitability in mature auditory brainstem neurons”; Co-I
National Institutes of Health (NIMH – Brain Initiative) R44: “Streamlining Volumetric Imaging, Analysis and Publication Using Immersive Virtual Reality”; Co-I

HONORS and AWARDS
Sigma Pi Sigma Physics Honor Society                                                                                    
NIH Individual Predoctoral Fellowship                                                                                             
Visiting Scientist, Boys Town National Research Institute                                                               
Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, West Virginia University, 1 of 2 inaugural recipients  
NIH Study Section Panel, Chair, AUD Committee                                                                           
Center for Scientific Review (NIH) College of Reviewers, an Inaugural Member                            
Society of Scholars, Johns Hopkins University                                                                                 Ronneberg Lecturer, Denison University                                                                                         
John W. and Jeannette S. Straton Research Chair in Neuroscience, West Virginia University

EDITORIAL BOARDS
Synapse
Journal of Neurophysiology
Journal of the Association of Research in Otolaryngology (Reviews Editor)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Srinivasan G, Dagostin A, Leão RN, Balakrishnan V, Holcomb P, Jackson D, Spirou GA, von Gersdorff H. (2019) Dendritic speeding of synaptic potentials in an auditory brainstem principal neuron. bioRxiv, doi: here.

Brandebura AN, Morehead M, Holcomb PS, Heller DT, Kolson D, Jones G, Deerinck TJ, Ellisman MH, Mathers PH, Spirou GA. (2018) Glial expansion during neural circuit formation in the auditory brainstem. Dev Neurobiol. Aug 23. doi: 10.1002/dneu.22633

Sivaramakrishnan S, Brandebura AN, Holcomb P, Heller D, Kolson D, Jackson D, Mathers PH, Spirou GA. (2018) Perinatal maturation of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body. Oxford Handbook of the Auditory System.

Kolson DR#, Heller D#, Brandebura A, Wan J, Ramadan J, Holcomb P, Amick EM, Liu S, Deerinck T, Ellisman M, Qian J, Spirou GA*, Mathers PM*. Gene expression changes and myelination during neural circuit pruning. # Contributed equally; *Co-corresponding authors. Submitted.

Payne S, Spirou GA, Fuller E, Zhang CQ. Diffusion profile embedding as a basis for graph vertex similarity. Submitted