Matthew Adusei

Dr. Adusei joined the SCNI in 2025 after completing his Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Rochester. His doctoral research revealed widespread projections from extrastriate cortex to the thalamus, specifically the LGN, highlighting the distributed nature of corticothalamic influence beyond primary visual areas. His current work aims to define the spatial, temporal, and parametric rules by which individual and combined cortical inputs drive single-neuron responses in the thalamus. To address these questions, Dr. Adusei combines fetal viral delivery for widespread cortical opsin expression with through-skull patterned optogenetic stimulation and single-unit thalamic recordings. By systematically varying stimulation frequency, amplitude, spatial activation patterns, and inter-site delays, he investigates how cortical inputs are integrated at the single-cell level, how these stimulation maps evolve across development, and how they reorganize following injury or disruption.

Selected Publications

Adusei M., Callaway E.M., Usrey W.M., Briggs F. (2024) Parallel streams of direct corticogeniculate feedback from mid-level extrastriate cortex in the macaque monkey.  ENEURO. 0364-23.2024. doi: 0.1523/ENEURO.0364-23.2024. PMID: 38479809

Adusei M., Hasse J.M., Briggs F. (2021) Morphological evidence for multiple distinct channels of corticogeniculate feedback originating in mid-level extrastriate visual areas of the ferret.  Brain Struct Funct. doi: 10.1007/s00429-021-02385-7. PMID: 34636984

Zhang C., Adusei M., Baranovic A., DiBenedetto M., Lauricella A., Martin S.C., Newsom-Stewart C., Schwartz J., Kurt R. (2019) Analysis of macrophages and neutrophils infiltrating murine mammary carcinoma sites within hours of tumor delivery.  Cellular Immunology,103929. doi: 10.1016/j.cellimm.2019. PMID: 31495445.