Thursday, August 21, 2025
These workshops are free and open to all registered conference attendees. Individuals not registered for the main conference may attend for a nominal fee. If you’re interested in attending, please submit the interest form below.
(1) Harnessing the potential of spatial transcriptomics
Single-cell genomics has the potential to unlock new insights into brain cell types, neural circuit function and therapeutic implications. The UCI Center for Neural Circuit Mapping (CNCM) team will coordinate with PacGenomics/CompleteGenomics and UC San Diego scientists to host a spatial transcriptomic workshop with a focus on Stereo-seq and MERFISH technologies. CNCM currently houses Vizgen MERSCOPEs and other instruments and is actively developing multimodal MERFISH and high-resolution sequencing-based spatial transcriptomics.
Feature speakers: (1) Dr. Bogdan Bintu, Assistant Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, UCSD; (2) Dr. Zhiqun Tan, Research Professor, UCI Center for Neural Circuit Mapping.
Location: UCI Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building
(2) Cell-type-selective viral targeting reagents for mammalian brain neural circuit analysis
New viral-genetic tools are critical for improving anatomical mapping and functional studies of cell-type-specific and circuit-specific neural networks in the intact brain. The goal of the CNCM viral core is to develop new and improved viral tools that can be used for a broad range of applications and to make them widely available in the neuroscience field. As part of the BRAIN Initiative Armamentarium project, the CNCM currently produces and distribute cell-type specific enhancer AAV reagents for the broad neuroscience community. The tools provide researchers with gene delivery systems for various species used in research, without the need for genetically modified, or transgenic, animals. Our team also has created new recombinant rabies viral vectors for neural circuit mapping that offer a range of significant advantages over existing tools, including the ability to detect microstructural changes in models of aging and Alzheimer’s disease brain neurons.
Feature speakers: (1) Dr. Ian Wickersham, Principal Research Scientist, McGovern Institute, MIT; (2) Dr. Alexis Bouin, UCI Center for Neural Circuit Mapping Viral Core Director.
Location: UCI Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building
For more information, please contact us at cncm@uci.edu