Arnaldo Carreira Rosario, Assistant Professor
All brains must transition from inactive to active during development. While neural activity early in life is crucial for neural circuit wiring in many contexts, how the brain “turns on”, and how this initial activity influences circuit formation, remain unclear in any system. To study this evolutionarily conserved phenomenon, we combine imaging of neural activity in the intact fruit fly embryo, quantitative behavioral analysis, and advanced genetics. The fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) offers a unique set of powerful genetic tools and has an accessible nervous system that shares common features with those many animals, including humans. Our research program aims to reveal the underlying logic of how brains become active, and how early activity influences circuit formation to sculpt mature behaviors.
Education:
Ph.D., UT Southwestern Medical School, 2016
B.S., University of Puerto Rico, 2009
Office Location: 137 Bio Science, Box 90338, Durham, NC 27708
Email Address: arnaldo.carreira@duke.edu
Additional Web Page: https://www.bootingupthebrain.org/
Recent Publications (search)
- Carreira-Rosario A,York RA, Choi M, Doe CQ, Clandinin TR, Mechanosensory input during circuit formation shapes Drosophila motor behavior through patterned spontaneous network activity, Current Biology, vol. 31 no. 23 (December, 2021), pp. 5341-5349 [available here] [abs].
- York RA, Carreira-Rosario A, Giocomo LM, Clandinin TR., Flexible analysis of animal behavior via time-resolved manifold embedding. (March 21, 2021) [2020.09.30.321406v2] [abs].