Professor; Director, Center for Neuroscience
Director, Sensory Neuroscience Research Center

Graduate Training: University of Florida
Fellowship: Johns Hopkins University

Departments of Otolaryngology; Physiology & Pharmacology
West Virginia University School of Medicine
One Medical Center Drive
PO Box 9304 Health Sciences Center
Morgantown, WV 26506-9304
t: 304-293-3490
f: 304-293-7182
e: gspirou@hsc.wvu.edu

Research Interests

Two related topics are studied in our laboratory: neural mechanisms for sound localization and development of neural circuits that mediate sound localization. Our focus is on brainstem circuits that perform the initial calculation of source location based on temporal delays in arrival of a sound at the two ears. We study the cellular and circuit mechanisms by which the brain extracts this information and encodes source location.

Techniques include: in vitro brain-slice physiology and pharmacology, whole-cell current and voltage clamp, imaging fast Ca transients, neurolucida reconstructions of labeled neurons, cell and circuit models coupled to immersive, 3-D visualization of circuit structure, confocal microscopy, electron microscopy and tomography, in vivo single-cell and evoked-potential recording, and tract tracing