Michael C Crair, PhD

Research Interests

Brain; Cerebral Cortex; Child Development; Nervous System; Synaptic Transmission; Neuronal Plasticity; Neurosciences; Visual Cortex

Research Organizations

Ophthalmology

Faculty Research

Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program

Office of Cooperative Research

Research Summary

In the brains of mammals, birds and invertebrates, the sensory world is organized into regular neuronal arrays or maps. Common examples are the map of body surface in somatosensory cortex (the so called "homunculus") and the representation of oriented bars or edges in visual cortex.

We are interested in understanding how genes ('nature') and the environment ('nurture') interact to guide the development of neuronal maps. Our research focuses on development of the visual and somatosensory systems. We employ a broad range of experimental techniques, including neuroanatomy, molecular biology and biochemistry, in vitro and in vivo electrophysiology as well as optical imaging.

This array of approaches allows us to examine neural circuit development from many perspectives, and provides synergistic impetus to our exploration of the cellular and molecular mechanisms for sensory map development.

Specialized Terms: Neural circuit development; Synapse formation; Visual system development; Cortex development

Selected Publications

• Visual circuit development requires patterned activity mediated by retinal acetylcholine receptors.

  Burbridge TJ, Xu HP, Ackman JB, Ge X, Zhang Y, Ye MJ, Zhou ZJ, Xu J, Contractor A and Crair MC, “Visual Circuit Development Requires Patterned Activity Mediated by Retinal Acetylcholine Receptors.”, Neuron, 2014 84:1049-64 2011 PMCID: PMC4258148.

• Laminar and Columnar Development of Barrel Cortex Relies on Thalamocortical Neurotransmission.

  Li H, Fertuzinhos S, Mohns E, Hnasko TS, Verhage M, Edwards R, Sestan N and Crair, MC, “Laminar and Columnar Development of Barrel Cortex Relies on Thalamocortical Neurotransmission”, Neuron, 2013 79:970-986 doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2013.06.043.

• Retinal Waves Coordinate Patterned Activity Throughout the Developing Visual System.

  Ackman J, Burbridge T and Crair, MC. “Retinal Waves Coordinate Patterned Activity Throughout the Developing Visual System”, Nature, 2012 Oct 11;490(7419):219-25. doi: 10.1038/nature11529.

• Visual Map Development Depends on the Temporal Pattern of Binocular Activity in Mice.

  Zhang J, Ackman J, Xu H P, and Crair, MC. "Visual Map Development Depends on the Temporal Pattern of Binocular Activity in Mice". Nature Neuroscience 2011 doi:10.1038/nn.3007. PMID:22179110.

• An Instructive Role for Patterned Spontaneous Retinal Activity in Mouse Visual Map Development.

  Xu HP, Furman M, Mineur YS, Chen H, King SL, Zenisek D, Zhou ZJ, Butts DA,Tian N, Picciotto MR and Crair MC, “An Instructive Role for Patterned Spontaneous Retinal Activity in Mouse Visual Map Development”, Neuron, 2011 70:1115-27. PMID:21689598.

• Development of Single Retinofugal Axon Arbors in Normal and Beta2 Knock-Out Mice.

  Dhande OS, Hua EW, Guh E, Yeh J, Bhatt S, Zhang Y, Ruthazer ES, Feller MB, Crair MC. "Development of Single Retinofugal Axon Arbors in Normal and Beta2 Knock-Out Mice". Journal of Neuroscience. 2011 Mar 2; 31(9):3384-3399. PMID:21368050.

• The immune protein CD3zeta is required for normal development of neural circuits in the retina.

  Xu HP, Chen H, Ding Q, Xie ZH, Chen L, Diao L, Wang P, Gan L, Crair MC, Tian N. "The immune protein CD3zeta is required for normal development of neural circuits in the retina". Neuron. 2010 Feb 25;65(4):503-15. PMID: 20188655.

• Consequences of axon guidance defects on the development of retinotopic receptive fields in the mouse colliculus.

  Chandrasekaran AR, Furuta Y, Crair MC. "Consequences of axon guidance defects on the development of retinotopic receptive fields in the mouse colliculus." Journal of Physiology. 2009 Mar 1;587(Pt 5):953-63. Epub 2009 Jan 19. PMID: 19153163.

• Bone morphogenetic proteins, eye patterning, and retinocollicular map formation in the mouse.

  Plas DT, Dhande OS, Lopez JE, Murali D, Thaller C, Henkemeyer M, Furuta Y, Overbeek P, Crair MC. "Bone morphogenetic proteins, eye patterning, and retinocollicular map formation in the mouse." Journal of Neuroscience. 2008 Jul 9;28(28):7057-67. PMID:

• Cortical adenylyl cyclase 1 is required for thalamocortical synapse maturation and aspects of layer IV barrel development.

  Iwasato T, Inan M, Kanki H, Erzurumlu RS, Itohara S, Crair MC. (2008) Cortical adenylyl cyclase 1 is required for thalamocortical synapse maturation and aspects of layer IV barrel development. "Cortical adenylyl cyclase 1 is required for thalamocortical synapse maturation and aspects of layer IV barrel development." Journal of Neuroscience. 2008 Jun 4;28(23):5931-43. PMID: 185248

Full List of PubMed Publications

• Diao Y, Cui L, Chen Y, Burbridge TJ, Han W, Wirth B, Sestan N, Crair MC, Zhang J: Reciprocal Connections Between Cortex and Thalamus Contribute to Retinal Axon Targeting to Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus. Cereb Cortex. 2018 Apr 1. PMID: 28334242
• Seabrook TA, Burbridge TJ, Crair MC, Huberman AD: Architecture, Function, and Assembly of the Mouse Visual System. Annu Rev Neurosci. 2017 Jul 25. PMID: 28772103
• Thompson A, Gribizis A, Chen C, Crair MC: Activity-dependent development of visual receptive fields. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2017 Feb; 2017 Jan 11. PMID: 28088066
• Crair MC, Mason CA: Reconnecting Eye to Brain. J Neurosci. 2016 Oct 19. PMID: 27798125
• Xu HP, Burbridge TJ, Ye M, Chen M, Ge X, Zhou ZJ, Crair MC: Retinal Wave Patterns Are Governed by Mutual Excitation among Starburst Amacrine Cells and Drive the Refinement and Maintenance of Visual Circuits. J Neurosci. 2016 Mar 30. PMID: 27030771
• Guo X, Wang SB, Xu H, Ribic A, Mohns EJ, Zhou Y, Zhu X, Biederer T, Crair MC, Chen B: A short N-terminal domain of HDAC4 preserves photoreceptors and restores visual function in retinitis pigmentosa. Nat Commun. 2015 Aug 14; 2015 Aug 14. PMID: 26272629
• Xu HP, Burbridge TJ, Chen MG, Ge X, Zhang Y, Zhou ZJ, Crair MC: Spatial pattern of spontaneous retinal waves instructs retinotopic map refinement more than activity frequency. Dev Neurobiol. 2015 Jun; 2015 Mar 30. PMID: 25787992
• Burbridge TJ, Xu HP, Ackman JB, Ge X, Zhang Y, Ye MJ, Zhou ZJ, Xu J, Contractor A, Crair MC: Visual circuit development requires patterned activity mediated by retinal acetylcholine receptors. Neuron. 2014 Dec 3; 2014 Nov 20. PMID: 25466916
• Ribic A, Liu X, Crair MC, Biederer T: Structural organization and function of mouse photoreceptor ribbon synapses involve the immunoglobulin protein synaptic cell adhesion molecule 1. J Comp Neurol. 2014 Mar. PMID: 23982969
• Ackman JB, Crair MC: Role of emergent neural activity in visual map development. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2014 Feb; 2013 Dec 22. PMID: 24492092
• Li H, Fertuzinhos S, Mohns E, Hnasko TS, Verhage M, Edwards R, Sestan N, Crair MC: Laminar and columnar development of barrel cortex relies on thalamocortical neurotransmission. Neuron. 2013 Sep 4. PMID: 24012009
• Furman M, Xu HP, Crair MC: Competition driven by retinal waves promotes morphological and functional synaptic development of neurons in the superior colliculus. J Neurophysiol. 2013 Sep; 2013 Jun 5. PMID: 23741047
• Ackman JB, Burbridge TJ, Crair MC: Retinal waves coordinate patterned activity throughout the developing visual system. Nature. 2012 Oct 11. PMID: 23060192
• Furman M, Crair MC: Synapse maturation is enhanced in the binocular region of the retinocollicular map prior to eye opening. J Neurophysiol. 2012 Jun; 2012 Mar 7. PMID: 22402661
• Dhande OS, Bhatt S, Anishchenko A, Elstrott J, Iwasato T, Swindell EC, Xu HP, Jamrich M, Itohara S, Feller MB, Crair MC: Role of adenylate cyclase 1 in retinofugal map development. J Comp Neurol. 2012 May 1. PMID: 22102330
• Zhang J, Ackman JB, Dhande OS, Crair MC: Visualization and manipulation of neural activity in the developing vertebrate nervous system. Front Mol Neurosci. 2011; 2011 Nov 18. PMID: 22121343
• Zhang J, Ackman JB, Xu HP, Crair MC: Visual map development depends on the temporal pattern of binocular activity in mice. Nat Neurosci. 2011 Nov 18; 2011 Nov 18. PMID: 22179110
• Xu HP, Furman M, Mineur YS, Chen H, King SL, Zenisek D, Zhou ZJ, Butts DA, Tian N, Picciotto MR, Crair MC: An instructive role for patterned spontaneous retinal activity in mouse visual map development. Neuron. 2011 Jun 23. PMID: 21689598
• Dhande OS, Crair MC: Transfection of mouse retinal ganglion cells by in vivo electroporation. J Vis Exp. 2011 Apr 17; 2011 Apr 17. PMID: 21525846
• Li H, Crair MC: How do barrels form in somatosensory cortex? Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2011 Apr. PMID: 21534999
• Xu HP, Chen H, Ding Q, Xie ZH, Chen L, Diao L, Wang P, Gan L, Crair MC, Tian N: The immune protein CD3zeta is required for normal development of neural circuits in the retina. Neuron. 2010 Feb 25. PMID: 20188655
• Shah RD, Crair MC: Mechanisms of response homeostasis during retinocollicular map formation. J Physiol. 2008 Sep 15; 2008 Jul 10. PMID: 18617562
• Shah RD, Crair MC: Retinocollicular synapse maturation and plasticity are regulated by correlated retinal waves. J Neurosci. 2008 Jan 2. PMID: 18171946

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