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SUMMARY:Mattia Chini (GIGA): "The preconfigured brain: from synapses to ci
 rcuits and behavior"
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260518T130000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260518T140000Z
DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260616T022029Z
UID:indico-event-591@indico.giga.uliege.be
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Early brain activity looks noisy\, but it obeys cons
 istent statistical and dynamical laws. We argue that these laws arise from
  a preconfigured circuit architecture that forms before sensory experience
  and constrains later computation and behavior. We show this across scales
 . At the synaptic and single-unit level\, large-scale electrophysiology ac
 ross development reveals early\, persistent signatures of organization: he
 avy-tailed firing-rate distributions\, stable interaction statistics\, and
  a hub-like\, “oligarchical” structure. Computational modeling shows t
 hat these features cohere as intrinsic constraints rather than products of
  learning. This framework extends to brain organoids\, a model that is\, b
 y definition\, devoid of sensory experience. In human and mouse organoids\
 , structured firing sequences and circuit topology emerge spontaneously\, 
 giving a controlled system to test what network organization development c
 an generate on its own\, and what truly requires external input. If circui
 t structure precedes experience\, it should support computation from birth
 . We therefore turn to behavior and ask whether higher-order cortex can in
 fluence neonatal actions\, contrary to the common view that it matures too
  slowly to matter. Focusing on survival-relevant innate behaviors\, we com
 bine in vivo electrophysiology\, opto- and chemogenetics\, anatomical trac
 ing\, and modeling to show that neonatal prefrontal circuits exert causal 
 top-down control over light avoidance and ultrasonic vocalizations through
  defined cortical and cortico-striatal pathways. Together\, these results 
 support a synapse-to-network-to-behavior account: early architecture sets 
 the scaffold\, firing sequences tunes the operating regime\, and higher-or
 der circuits shape behavior well before classical sensory learning.\n\nBio
 : Mattia Chini is a physician-scientist and newly appointed PI at GIGA Neu
 rosciences (Université de Liège)\, with a joint affiliation at Universit
 y Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. His lab studies how inhibitory circuit
 s mature during early development and how this maturation reshapes network
  phenomena\, from sparsification and spiking decorrelation to the emergenc
 e of structured rhythms. Using large-scale in vivo electrophysiology\, cel
 l-type-resolved circuit interrogation\, and quantitative modeling\, he has
  shown that key features of brain activity\, ranging from synapses to inna
 te behaviors\, are already present early in life\, supporting the preconfi
 gured brain hypothesis. He uses these quantitative signatures to reverse-e
 ngineer the circuit mechanisms that organize developing brain dynamics.\n\
 nInvited by: Athena Demertzi\n\nhttps://indico.giga.uliege.be/event/591/
LOCATION:CRC B-30/0-000 - FLUOR (Big meeting room)
URL:https://indico.giga.uliege.be/event/591/
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