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Retina

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retina

Discover seminars, jobs, and research tagged with retina across World Wide.
112 curated items60 Seminars40 ePosters12 Positions
Updated 1 day ago
112 items · retina
112 results
Position

Alexandre Tiriac

Vanderbilt University
Nashville, United States of America
Dec 5, 2025

The laboratory of Dr. Alexandre Tiriac is seeking an ambitious candidate for a postdoctoral research position. The Tiriac lab studies how various factors promote or impair the development of the nervous system with the goal of understanding the neural basis of cognitive disorders. Specifically, we are interested in recruiting a postdoctoral researcher interested in taking the lead on a project studying the role of brain states on the development of the nervous system. We study these questions in the mouse visual system, but opportunities exist to branch out to other sensory and motor systems. More information about our current research projects can be found here (https://www.tiriaclab.org/research). With mentorship from Dr. Tiriac, the postdoctoral researcher is expected to independently design and conduct experiments. Example research techniques include dissections, surgeries, calcium imaging using two-photon microscopy, electrophysiological recording using multielectrode arrays, processing brain tissue for histology, and computational techniques. The postdoctoral researcher is expected to perform data analyses, generate figures, and draft research manuscripts that will be submitted to neuroscience journals. Support will be provided for the postdoctoral researcher to attend at least one scientific conference a year to network and present data. If desired by the candidate, the postdoctoral researcher would be supported in the submission of competitive grant applications (e.g.: F32, K99/R00, LSRF, T32). A curated mentorship plan will be designed depending on the candidate’s career goal (industry vs tenure track position). The Tiriac lab strives to provide a supportive and inclusive research environment that fosters interdisciplinary training and collaborative exchange. The lab is based in Vanderbilt’s Department of Biological Sciences. We are also affiliated with the Vanderbilt Brain Institute and the Vanderbilt Vision Research Center. As part of so these programs, the Tiriac lab has access to numerous cores that enhance and speed up our research (currently used example cores: automated genotyping, microscopy core, histology core, and behavior core).

Position

Prof. Espen Hartveit

University of Bergen, Department of Biomedicine
Bergen, Norway
Dec 5, 2025

In the Hartveit-Veruki group (Retinal Microcircuits) at the Department of Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine, a full-time (100 %) position as Postdoctoral Research Fellow is available for a period of three (3) years. The position is linked to the consortium project ”Understanding plasticity and neural circuit dynamics in the brain” (TMS Brain Research Initiative), financed by the "Trond Mohn Stiftelse" (TMS), the University of Bergen, and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Expected starting date is negotiable, but preferably by end of 2023 / beginning of 2024. The main objective of the TMS Brain Research Initiative is to identify core principles of plasticity and neural circuit dynamics in the brain. The project is hosted by the University of Bergen (UiB) at the Mohn Research Centre for the Brain and organized as a consortium collaboration between the Department of Biomedicine at UiB and the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Through the centre's activities, the Postdoc will interact with a multidisciplinary team covering broad areas of neuroscience and gain experience in scientific presentation and discussion. The project focuses on investigating plasticity of neuronal microcircuits involving amacrine cells in the mammalian retina, including functions of ion channels and chemical and electrical synapses. Primary methods include patch-clamp electrophysiology, two-photon microscopy, and two-photon FLIM-FRET of intracellular signaling. The experimental work will be performed with the mammalian retina as the model system. Your application must be submitted via the JobbNorge website (deadline Oct 20): (https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/249982/postdoctoral-research-fellow-in-neuroscience).

Position

PD Dr. Zohreh Hosseinzadeh

Leipzig University
Leipzig, Germany
Dec 5, 2025

PhD position in retina research for ERC grant project Join a 3-year PhD program in retinal development and immerse yourself in cutting-edge research to unlock the secrets of the human retina organoids from stem cells. With state-of-the-art techniques, you'll have the opportunity to make a real impact by developing innovative solutions for ocular diseases. Advance your career and change the future of eye care: This program offers you a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of scientific discovery. Apply now and take your passion and creativity to the next level! What we are looking for a PhD candidate for the position: • An excellent academic record • Experimental knowledge in electrophysiology (patch clamp, multi-electrode array) , ideally in functional imaging, cell/tissue culture or molecular biology is an advantage • A solid background in biology, ideally in neuroscience • Background in statistics and data analysis • Programming experience in Python, Matlab, R or similar is ideal • Personal skills: The applicant must have a good organizational skills, and the ability to work autonomously, but willing to perform and interact efficiently within a multidisciplinary team. What we offer: A friendly, stimulating, international and multidisciplinary environment. Leipzig has beautiful nature, perfect for hiking, biking, and swimming. The successful candidate will be enrolled in the Graduate School for Brain Dynamics of the Leipzig University. The application package is expected to contain: • A CV • The motivation for applying to this position • Two reference letters • master certificate Please send the documents to Zohreh.Hosseinzadeh@medizin.uni-leipzig.de (PD Dr. Zohreh Hosseinzadeh); Focke.Ziemssen@medizin.uni-leipzig.de (Prof. Focke Ziemssen)

Position

Zohreh Hosseinzadeh

Leipzig University
Leipzig
Dec 5, 2025

Title: senior associate research (Junior lab Leader) - Electrocardiography for Recording Retina and Retinal Organoids We are seeking a highly motivated and talented senior associate research (Junior lab Leader) to join our team in the development of functional organoids and study physiology of the retina. Responsibilities: Design and lead experiments to record electrocardiography with MEA and patch clamp or/and calcium imaging signals from retinal organoids and mouse retina. Perform analysis of recorded data. Collaborate with other team members to generate functional organoids for retinal research. Interpret data and communicate results effectively to the team and stakeholders. Publish findings in peer-reviewed journals. Assist in the mentoring and training of students and other team members. Requirements: • Ph.D. in relevant field (e.g., biology, bioengineering, biomedical engineering). • Proven experience in electrocardiography (patch clamp, multi-electrode array) , ideally in functional imaging, cell/tissue culture or molecular biology is an advantage • Familiarity with the latest techniques in the biology • Background in statistics and data analysis • Programming experience in Python, Matlab, R or similar is ideal • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills • Ability to work independently and as part of a team and supervise students. • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills • Track record of publications in peer-reviewed journals. We offer: An exciting and innovative research environment with state-of-the-art facilities. A highly motivated and collaborative team of scientists. Opportunities for professional development and career advancement. Competitive salary and benefits package. 3+2 years contrcat If you are a highly motivated and talented Junior lab Leader with expertise in electrocardiography and calcium imaging for recording retina and a passion for advancing the field of retinal research, please submit your CV, cover letter, and the contact information for two references to Zohreh.Hosseinzadeh@medizin.uni-leipzig.de (PD Dr. Zohreh Hosseinzadeh. We look forward to hearing from you!

PositionComputational Neuroscience

Matthew Chalk

Sorbonne Université
Paris
Dec 5, 2025

A postdoctoral position is available for a project with Matthew Chalk (https://matthewjchalk.wixsite.com/mysite), at the Vision Institute (www.institut-vision.org/en/), within the Sorbonne Université, in Paris, France. The project will involve investigating principles of neural coding in the retina. Specifically, the project will investigate how different coding objectives, such as optimising efficiency or encoding predictive information, can explain the diverse ways that neurons in the retina respond to visual stimulation. The project will extend previous work by Chalk et al. to develop a general theory of optimal neural coding (Chalk et al. PNAS 2018, Chalk et al. 2022 biorxiv). For this, we will use a range of computational techniques including gaussian processes (Goldin et al. 2023 PNAS) and information theory. The project is part of an exciting interdisciplinary collaboration between theorists and experimentalists at the Vision Institute (Olivier Marre; http://oliviermarre.free.fr), and Thomas Euler (https://eulerlab.de) and Philip Berens (https://www.eye-tuebingen.de/berenslab/) at Tuebingen University. The Vision Institute is a stimulating environment for brain research. It brings together in a single building researchers, clinicians and industrial partners in order to discover, test and develop treatments and technological innovations for the benefit of visually impaired patients. The candidate will have a PhD with a strong, quantitative background (ideally in fields such as machine learning, theoretical neuroscience or physics). They will have a good grasp of oral and written English (French is not required). Most of all, they will enjoy tackling new problems with enthusiasm and as part of a team. The position is funded for three years. Applications should include a CV, a statement of research interests (~ 1 page), and two letters of recommendation. Electronic submissions in pdf-format are preferred and should be sent to Matthew Chalk (matthewjchalk@gmail.com). Feel free to ask any informal questions about the position if you are interested.

Position

Prof Tim Gollisch

University Medical Center Goettingen
Goettingen, Germany
Dec 5, 2025

The work includes participation in recordings from the isolated retina (mostly mouse) with multielectrodes, using both wild-type retinas and optogenetic retina models of vision restoration therapy. Patch-clamp recordings are also a possibility. A strong focus will then be to combine these experiments with novel tools for data analysis and mathematical modeling, using cascade-type models (linear-nonlinear models and beyond), artificial neural networks, or machine-learning techniques to analyze the retinal network. See the announcement at https://www.retina.uni-goettingen.de/join-the-lab/ for more information as well as for contact information.

Position

Thomas Euler

Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN) / Centre for Ophthalmology, University of Tübingen
Tübingen
Dec 5, 2025

Two PhD positions as part of interdisciplinary collaborations are available in Laura Busse’s lab at the Faculty of Biology of the LMU Munich and Thomas Euler’s lab at the Center for Integrative Neuroscience in Tübingen. The fully funded positions are part of the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center Robust vision: Inference Principles and neural mechanisms. In the project, we will explore the visual input received by the mouse visual system under natural conditions and study how such input is processed along key stages of the early visual system. The project continues from Qiu et al. (2020) and will include opportunities for performing recordings of the visual input encountered by freely behaving mice under naturalistic conditions, statistical analysis of the recorded video material, quantitative assessment of behavior, and measurements (2P calcium imaging / electrophysiology) of neural responses from mouse retina, visual thalamus and primary visual cortex in response to naturalistic movies. The project requires a combination of experimental skills and interest in engineering and programming. Since the project will be conducted in a collaborative, interdisciplinary setting and within a geographically distributed team, the candidate show have good capacity and value for teamwork and communication skills. One of the positions will be place in Thomas Euler’s lab (U Tuebingen) with a focus on retinal aspects of the project. A complementary PhD position in Laura Busse’s lab (LMU Munich), with a focus on central vision aspects, will closely collaborate on the development of the recording hardware and the software framework for data analysis and modelling. Both positions offer a thriving scientific environment, structured PhD programs and numerous opportunities for networking and exchange. Interested candidates are welcome to establish contact via email to thomas.euler@cin.uni-tuebingen.de and busse@bio.lmu.de. More information about the labs can be found here https://eulerlab.de/ and https://visioncircuitslab.org/ For applications to Thomas Euler’s position within the project, see further instructions on the lab’s webpage (https://eulerlab.de/positions/). For applications to Laura Busse’s position within the project, please visit the LMU Graduate School of Systemic Neuroscience (GSN, http://www.gsn.uni-muenchen.de/index.html).

Position

Thomas Euler

University of Tübingen
Tübingen, Germany
Dec 5, 2025

Visual processing starts in the retina, where at least 40 distinct features are extracted and sent through parallel channels to higher visual centers in the brain. One of the biggest remaining challenges in retinal research is to understand how these diverse representations arise within the retinal circuits. The origin of this vast functional diversity lies in the retina’s second synaptic layer, the inner plexiform layer, where bipolar cells, amacrine cells and ganglion cells form complex interconnected networks. In particular the amacrine cells are crucial for decorrelating different functional channels: They tune the ganglion cells’ responses, which represent the retina’s output, by modulating glutamate release from bipolar cells as well as heavily shaping the signal integration in the ganglion cell dendritic arbors. Still surprisingly little is known about the great majority of the 60+ genetic types of amacrine cells and their intricate networks in the inner retina. In this project, we aim to dissect the functional roles of different amacrine cell circuits for image processing. To this end, we will combine functional 2-photon imaging of excitatory and inhibitory signals in the mouse retina with computational modeling based on connectomics data from electron microscopy.

Position

Prof Laura Busse

LMU Munich
Munich, Germany
Dec 5, 2025

2 PhD positions as part of interdisciplinary collaborations are available in Laura Busse’s lab at the Faculty of Biology of the LMU Munich and Thomas Euler’s lab at the Center for Integrative Neuroscience in Tübingen. The fully funded positions are part of the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center Robust vision: Inference Principles and neural mechanisms. In the project, we will explore the visual input received by the mouse visual system under natural conditions and study how such input is processed along key stages of the early visual system. The project continues from Qiu et al. (2020, bioRxiv) and will include opportunities for performing recordings of the visual input encountered by freely behaving mice under naturalistic conditions, statistical analysis of the recorded video material, quantitative assessment of behavior, and measurements (2P calcium imaging / electrophysiology) of neural responses from mouse retina, visual thalamus and primary visual cortex in response to naturalistic movies. One of the positions will be place in Thomas Euler’s lab (U Tuebingen) with a focus on retinal aspects of the project. A complementary PhD position in Laura Busse’s lab (LMU Munich), with a focus on central vision aspects, will closely collaborate on the development of the recording hardware and the software framework for data analysis and modelling. Both positions offer a thriving scientific environment, structured PhD programs and numerous opportunities for networking and exchange. Interested candidates are welcome to establish contact via email to thomas.euler@cin.uni-tuebingen.de and busse@bio.lmu.de. More information about the labs can be found here https://eulerlab.de/ and https://visioncircuitslab.org/ For applications to Thomas Euler’s position within the project, see further instructions on the lab’s webpage (https://eulerlab.de/positions/). For applications to Laura Busse’s position within the project, please visit the LMU Graduate School of Systemic Neuroscience (GSN, http://www.gsn.uni-muenchen.de). The deadline for applications is February 15.

Position

Dr. Erika Eggers

University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ, USA
Dec 5, 2025

The Eggers Lab in the UArizona Departments of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering is seeking highly motivated candidates for the full-time position of Postdoctoral Research Associate I. Dr. Eggers’s NIH-funded research incorporates physiological light stimulation, electrophysiology, immunohistochemical and optogenetic approaches to identify cellular, synaptic and molecular mechanisms that underlie changes in retinal neurons in diabetes. The goal of current studies is to determine how retinal calcium and dopamine signaling are altered in multiple levels of the rod pathway during early stages of diabetes and to identify potential targets for treatment. More information on our current research interests can be found at: http://eggerslab.sites.arizona.edu/.

Position

Magdalena Renner

Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB)
Basel, Switzerland
Dec 5, 2025

The Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB) is seeking a highly motivated Research Assistant to join the Retinal Organoid Platform. IOB is a research institute combining basic and clinical research. Its mission is to drive innovations in understanding vision and its diseases and develop new therapies for vision loss. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your abilities challenged, and your knowledge expanded. The Retinal Organoid Platform uses human retinal organoids derived from pluripotent stem cells as models for inherited retinal degeneration. Therefore, the Retinal Organoid Platform is involved in collecting and reprogramming into iPSC cells from patients with retinal disease as a resource for IOB researchers and collaborators around the globe. Furthermore, the Retinal Organoid Platform is introducing precise patient mutations into hiPSC by genome engineering. Your responsibilities: - In vitro culture of human induced pluripotent stem (iPSC) cells and retinal organoids - Gene editing of iPSC by CRISPR/Cas9, and full characterization of mutant cells - Characterization of iPSC and retinal organoids by various histology, molecular biology and microscopy techniques - Vector construction and molecular cloning - Applying and improving new methodologies to enhance the creation of mutant iPSC - Reprogramming of human primary cells to iPSC - Biobanking of primary cells and iPSC - Involvement in lab management and organization - Close collaboration with group members and IOB groups

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Go with the visual flow: circuit mechanisms for gaze control during locomotion

Eugenia Chiappe
Champalimaud Foundation
Sep 11, 2025
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Seeing a changing world through the eyes of coral fishes

Fabio Cortesi
Queensland University
Jun 25, 2025
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Restoring Sight to the Blind: Effects of Structural and Functional Plasticity

Noelle Stiles
Rutgers University
May 21, 2025

Visual restoration after decades of blindness is now becoming possible by means of retinal and cortical prostheses, as well as emerging stem cell and gene therapeutic approaches. After restoring visual perception, however, a key question remains. Are there optimal means and methods for retraining the visual cortex to process visual inputs, and for learning or relearning to “see”? Up to this point, it has been largely assumed that if the sensory loss is visual, then the rehabilitation focus should also be primarily visual. However, the other senses play a key role in visual rehabilitation due to the plastic repurposing of visual cortex during blindness by audition and somatosensation, and also to the reintegration of restored vision with the other senses. I will present multisensory neuroimaging results, cortical thickness changes, as well as behavioral outcomes for patients with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), which causes blindness by destroying photoreceptors in the retina. These patients have had their vision partially restored by the implantation of a retinal prosthesis, which electrically stimulates still viable retinal ganglion cells in the eye. Our multisensory and structural neuroimaging and behavioral results suggest a new, holistic concept of visual rehabilitation that leverages rather than neglects audition, somatosensation, and other sensory modalities.

SeminarArtificial IntelligenceRecording

Computational modelling of ocular pharmacokinetics

Arto Urtti
School of Pharmacy, University of Eastern Finland
Apr 21, 2025

Pharmacokinetics in the eye is an important factor for the success of ocular drug delivery and treatment. Pharmacokinetic features determine the feasible routes of drug administration, dosing levels and intervals, and it has impact on eventual drug responses. Several physical, biochemical, and flow-related barriers limit drug exposure of anterior and posterior ocular target tissues during treatment during local (topical, subconjunctival, intravitreal) and systemic administration (intravenous, per oral). Mathematical models integrate joint impact of various barriers on ocular pharmacokinetics (PKs) thereby helping drug development. The models are useful in describing (top-down) and predicting (bottom-up) pharmacokinetics of ocular drugs. This is useful also in the design and development of new drug molecules and drug delivery systems. Furthermore, the models can be used for interspecies translation and probing of disease effects on pharmacokinetics. In this lecture, ocular pharmacokinetics and current modelling methods (noncompartmental analyses, compartmental, physiologically based, and finite element models) are introduced. Future challenges are also highlighted (e.g. intra-tissue distribution, prediction of drug responses, active transport).

SeminarNeuroscience

Retinal input integration in excitatory and inhibitory neurons in the mouse superior colliculus in vivo

Prof. Jens Kremkow
Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg
Apr 8, 2025
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

An inconvenient truth: pathophysiological remodeling of the inner retina in photoreceptor degeneration

Michael Telias
University of Rochester
Apr 7, 2025

Photoreceptor loss is the primary cause behind vision impairment and blindness in diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. However, the death of rods and cones allows retinoids to permeate the inner retina, causing retinal ganglion cells to become spontaneously hyperactive, severely reducing the signal-to-noise ratio, and creating interference in the communication between the surviving retina and the brain. Treatments aimed at blocking or reducing hyperactivity improve vision initiated from surviving photoreceptors and could enhance the signal fidelity generated by vision restoration methodologies.

SeminarArtificial IntelligenceRecording

Why age-related macular degeneration is a mathematically tractable disease

Christine Curcio
The University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine
Aug 18, 2024

Among all prevalent diseases with a central neurodegeneration, AMD can be considered the most promising in terms of prevention and early intervention, due to several factors surrounding the neural geometry of the foveal singularity. • Steep gradients of cell density, deployed in a radially symmetric fashion, can be modeled with a difference of Gaussian curves. • These steep gradients give rise to huge, spatially aligned biologic effects, summarized as the Center of Cone Resilience, Surround of Rod Vulnerability. • Widely used clinical imaging technology provides cellular and subcellular level information. • Data are now available at all timelines: clinical, lifespan, evolutionary • Snapshots are available from tissues (histology, analytic chemistry, gene expression) • A viable biogenesis model exists for drusen, the largest population-level intraocular risk factor for progression. • The biogenesis model shares molecular commonality with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, for which there has been decades of public health success. • Animal and cell model systems are emerging to test these ideas.

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Retinal Photoreceptor Diversity Across Mammals

Leo Peichl
Goethe University Frankfurt
Jun 2, 2024
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Inhibition in the retina

Anna Vlasits
University of Illinois Chicago
Apr 28, 2024
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Molecular Characterization of Retinal Cell Types: Insights into Evolutionary Origins and Regional Specializations

Yirong Peng
UCLA Stein Eye Institute
Mar 3, 2024
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Reimagining the neuron as a controller: A novel model for Neuroscience and AI

Dmitri 'Mitya' Chklovskii
Flatiron Institute, Center for Computational Neuroscience
Feb 4, 2024

We build upon and expand the efficient coding and predictive information models of neurons, presenting a novel perspective that neurons not only predict but also actively influence their future inputs through their outputs. We introduce the concept of neurons as feedback controllers of their environments, a role traditionally considered computationally demanding, particularly when the dynamical system characterizing the environment is unknown. By harnessing a novel data-driven control framework, we illustrate the feasibility of biological neurons functioning as effective feedback controllers. This innovative approach enables us to coherently explain various experimental findings that previously seemed unrelated. Our research has profound implications, potentially revolutionizing the modeling of neuronal circuits and paving the way for the creation of alternative, biologically inspired artificial neural networks.

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Incorporating visual evidence and counter-evidence to estimate self-movement

Damon Clark
Yale University
Jan 21, 2024
SeminarNeuroscience

Sensory Consequences of Visual Actions

Martin Rolfs
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Dec 7, 2023

We use rapid eye, head, and body movements to extract information from a new part of the visual scene upon each new gaze fixation. But the consequences of such visual actions go beyond their intended sensory outcomes. On the one hand, intrinsic consequences accompany movement preparation as covert internal processes (e.g., predictive changes in the deployment of visual attention). On the other hand, visual actions have incidental consequences, side effects of moving the sensory surface to its intended goal (e.g., global motion of the retinal image during saccades). In this talk, I will present studies in which we investigated intrinsic and incidental sensory consequences of visual actions and their sensorimotor functions. Our results provide insights into continuously interacting top-down and bottom-up sensory processes, and they reify the necessity to study perception in connection to motor behavior that shapes its fundamental processes.

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Visual Monitoring of Visual Appearance as a Feedback System in Dynamic Camouflage

Lorian E. Schweikert
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Nov 12, 2023
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

How fly neurons compute the direction of visual motion

Axel Borst
Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Intelligence
Oct 8, 2023

Detecting the direction of image motion is important for visual navigation, predator avoidance and prey capture, and thus essential for the survival of all animals that have eyes. However, the direction of motion is not explicitly represented at the level of the photoreceptors: it rather needs to be computed by subsequent neural circuits, involving a comparison of the signals from neighboring photoreceptors over time. The exact nature of this process represents a classic example of neural computation and has been a longstanding question in the field. Much progress has been made in recent years in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster by genetically targeting individual neuron types to block, activate or record from them. Our results obtained this way demonstrate that the local direction of motion is computed in two parallel ON and OFF pathways. Within each pathway, a retinotopic array of four direction-selective T4 (ON) and T5 (OFF) cells represents the four Cartesian components of local motion vectors (leftward, rightward, upward, downward). Since none of the presynaptic neurons is directionally selective, direction selectivity first emerges within T4 and T5 cells. Our present research focuses on the cellular and biophysical mechanisms by which the direction of image motion is computed in these neurons.

SeminarArtificial IntelligenceRecording

Foundation models in ophthalmology

Pearse Keane
University College London and Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Sep 5, 2023

Abstract to follow.

SeminarArtificial IntelligenceRecording

Computational and mathematical approaches to myopigenesis

C. Ross Ethier
Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University
Jul 31, 2023

Myopia is predicted to affect 50% of all people worldwide by 2050, and is a risk factor for significant, potentially blinding ocular pathologies, such as retinal detachment and glaucoma. Thus, there is significant motivation to better understand the process of myopigenesis and to develop effective anti-myopigenic treatments. In nearly all cases of human myopia, scleral remodeling is an obligate step in the axial elongation that characterizes the condition. Here I will describe the development of a biomechanical assay based on transient unconfined compression of scleral samples. By treating the scleral as a poroelastic material, one can determine scleral biomechanical properties from extremely small samples, such as obtained from the mouse eye. These properties provide proxy measures of scleral remodeling, and have allowed us to identify all-trans retinoic acid (atRA) as a myopigenic stimulus in mice. I will also describe nascent collaborative work on modeling the transport of atRA in the eye.

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Comparative transcriptomics of retinal cell types

Karthik Shekhar
University of California, Berkeley
Jul 23, 2023
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Light-driven dopamine release in the adult and developing retina

Morven Cameron
Western Sydney University
Jun 25, 2023
SeminarNeuroscience

Restoring function in advanced disease with photoreceptor cell replacement therapy

Rachael Pearson
King's College London
Jun 12, 2023
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Human and Zebrafish retinal circuits: similarities in day and night

Takeshi Yoshimatsu
University of Washington, St. Louis
Jun 11, 2023
SeminarArtificial IntelligenceRecording

Diverse applications of artificial intelligence and mathematical approaches in ophthalmology

Tiarnán Keenan
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Jun 5, 2023

Ophthalmology is ideally placed to benefit from recent advances in artificial intelligence. It is a highly image-based specialty and provides unique access to the microvascular circulation and the central nervous system. This talk will demonstrate diverse applications of machine learning and deep learning techniques in ophthalmology, including in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in industrialized countries, and cataract, the leading cause of blindness worldwide. This will include deep learning approaches to automated diagnosis, quantitative severity classification, and prognostic prediction of disease progression, both from images alone and accompanied by demographic and genetic information. The approaches discussed will include deep feature extraction, label transfer, and multi-modal, multi-task training. Cluster analysis, an unsupervised machine learning approach to data classification, will be demonstrated by its application to geographic atrophy in AMD, including exploration of genotype-phenotype relationships. Finally, mediation analysis will be discussed, with the aim of dissecting complex relationships between AMD disease features, genotype, and progression.

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

How what you do shapes what you see

Stephanie Palmer
University of Chicago
May 28, 2023
SeminarNeuroscience

Seeing slowly - how inner retinal photoreceptors support vision and circadian rhythms in mice and humans

Robert Lucas
University of Manchester, UK
May 24, 2023
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Neural circuits for vision in the natural world

Cris Niell
University of Oregon
May 21, 2023
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Started at 09 .15 - A WHOLE DAY symposium celebrating the work of Mike Land

Animal Vision - The work of Mike Land
University of Sussex
Apr 26, 2023

Note: British 16.15 is the finishing time

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Routing and modulation of retinal input to circuits underlying aversive behavior

Katja Reinhard
SISSA Trieste
Apr 23, 2023
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

The smart image compression algorithm in the retina: a theoretical study of recoding inputs in neural circuits

Gabrielle Gutierrez
Columbia University, New York
Apr 4, 2023

Computation in neural circuits relies on a common set of motifs, including divergence of common inputs to parallel pathways, convergence of multiple inputs to a single neuron, and nonlinearities that select some signals over others. Convergence and circuit nonlinearities, considered individually, can lead to a loss of information about the inputs. Past work has detailed how to optimize nonlinearities and circuit weights to maximize information, but we show that selective nonlinearities, acting together with divergent and convergent circuit structure, can improve information transmission over a purely linear circuit despite the suboptimality of these components individually. These nonlinearities recode the inputs in a manner that preserves the variance among converged inputs. Our results suggest that neural circuits may be doing better than expected without finely tuned weights.

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Retinal and brain circuits underlying the effects of light on behavior

Hattar Samer
National Institutes of Health
Mar 20, 2023
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Visual circuits for threat anticipation

Tiffany Schmidt
Northwestern University
Mar 19, 2023
SeminarNeuroscience

Learning to see stuff

Roland W. Fleming
Giessen University
Mar 12, 2023

Humans are very good at visually recognizing materials and inferring their properties. Without touching surfaces, we can usually tell what they would feel like, and we enjoy vivid visual intuitions about how they typically behave. This is impressive because the retinal image that the visual system receives as input is the result of complex interactions between many physical processes. Somehow the brain has to disentangle these different factors. I will present some recent work in which we show that an unsupervised neural network trained on images of surfaces spontaneously learns to disentangle reflectance, lighting and shape. However, the disentanglement is not perfect, and we find that as a result the network not only predicts the broad successes of human gloss perception, but also the specific pattern of errors that humans exhibit on an image-by-image basis. I will argue this has important implications for thinking about appearance and vision more broadly.

SeminarArtificial IntelligenceRecording

Deep learning applications in ophthalmology

Aaron Lee
University of Washington
Mar 9, 2023

Deep learning techniques have revolutionized the field of image analysis and played a disruptive role in the ability to quickly and efficiently train image analysis models that perform as well as human beings. This talk will cover the beginnings of the application of deep learning in the field of ophthalmology and vision science, and cover a variety of applications of using deep learning as a method for scientific discovery and latent associations.

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Interplay between circuits that mediate spontaneous retinal waves and early light responses during retinal development

Marla Feller
University of California, Berkeley
Feb 12, 2023
SeminarArtificial IntelligenceRecording

Unique features of oxygen delivery to the mammalian retina

Robert Linsenmeier
Northwestern University
Feb 6, 2023

Like all neural tissue, the retina has a high metabolic demand, and requires a constant supply of oxygen. Second and third order neurons are supplied by the retinal circulation, whose characteristics are similar to brain circulation. However, the photoreceptor region, which occupies half of the retinal thickness, is avascular, and relies on diffusion of oxygen from the choroidal circulation, whose properties are very different, as well as the retinal circulation. By fitting diffusion models to oxygen measurements made with oxygen microelectrodes, it is possible to understand the relative roles of the two circulations under normal conditions of light and darkness, and what happens if the retina is detached or the retinal circulation is occluded. Most of this work has been done in vivo in rat, cat, and monkey, but recent work in the isolated mouse retina will also be discussed.

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Vision for Predation

Daniel Kerschensteiner
Washington University, St Louis
Jan 15, 2023
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Active vision in Drosophila

Lisa Fenk
Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Munich
Dec 11, 2022
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Melanopsin contributions to vision in mice and man

Rob Lucas
University of Manchester
Nov 20, 2022
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Context-dependent selectivity to natural scenes in the retina

Olivier Marre
Institute de la vision, Paris
Nov 6, 2022
SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Regional variation of photoreceptor and circuit function in the primate retina

Raunak Sinha
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Oct 23, 2022
SeminarNeuroscience

Development and evolution of neuronal connectivity

Alain Chédotal
Vision Institute, Paris, France
Sep 27, 2022

In most animal species including humans, commissural axons connect neurons on the left and right side of the nervous system. In humans, abnormal axon midline crossing during development causes a whole range of neurological disorders ranging from congenital mirror movements, horizontal gaze palsy, scoliosis or binocular vision deficits. The mechanisms which guide axons across the CNS midline were thought to be evolutionary conserved but our recent results suggesting that they differ across vertebrates.  I will discuss the evolution of visual projection laterality during vertebrate evolution.  In most vertebrates, camera-style eyes contain retinal ganglion cell (RGC) neurons projecting to visual centers on both sides of the brain. However, in fish, RGCs are thought to only innervate the contralateral side. Using 3D imaging and tissue clearing we found that bilateral visual projections exist in non-teleost fishes. We also found that the developmental program specifying visual system laterality differs between fishes and mammals. We are currently using various strategies to discover genes controlling the development of visual projections. I will also present ongoing work using 3D imaging techniques to study the development of the visual system in human embryo.

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Seeing the world through moving photoreceptors - binocular photomechanical microsaccades give fruit fly hyperacute 3D-vision

Mikko Juusola
University of Sheffield
Jul 31, 2022

To move efficiently, animals must continuously work out their x,y,z positions with respect to real-world objects, and many animals have a pair of eyes to achieve this. How photoreceptors actively sample the eyes’ optical image disparity is not understood because this fundamental information-limiting step has not been investigated in vivo over the eyes’ whole sampling matrix. This integrative multiscale study will advance our current understanding of stereopsis from static image disparity comparison to a morphodynamic active sampling theory. It shows how photomechanical photoreceptor microsaccades enable Drosophila superresolution three-dimensional vision and proposes neural computations for accurately predicting these flies’ depth-perception dynamics, limits, and visual behaviors.

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

A model of colour appearance based on efficient coding of natural images

Jolyon Troscianko
University of Exeter
Jul 17, 2022

An object’s colour, brightness and pattern are all influenced by its surroundings, and a number of visual phenomena and “illusions” have been discovered that highlight these often dramatic effects. Explanations for these phenomena range from low-level neural mechanisms to high-level processes that incorporate contextual information or prior knowledge. Importantly, few of these phenomena can currently be accounted for when measuring an object’s perceived colour. Here we ask to what extent colour appearance is predicted by a model based on the principle of coding efficiency. The model assumes that the image is encoded by noisy spatio-chromatic filters at one octave separations, which are either circularly symmetrical or oriented. Each spatial band’s lower threshold is set by the contrast sensitivity function, and the dynamic range of the band is a fixed multiple of this threshold, above which the response saturates. Filter outputs are then reweighted to give equal power in each channel for natural images. We demonstrate that the model fits human behavioural performance in psychophysics experiments, and also primate retinal ganglion responses. Next we systematically test the model’s ability to qualitatively predict over 35 brightness and colour phenomena, with almost complete success. This implies that contrary to high-level processing explanations, much of colour appearance is potentially attributable to simple mechanisms evolved for efficient coding of natural images, and is a basis for modelling the vision of humans and other animals.

SeminarNeuroscience

Color vision circuits for primate intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells

Sara S. Patterson
University of Rochester (USA)
Jul 6, 2022

The rising and setting of the sun is accompanied by changes in both the irradiance and the spectral distribution of the sky. Since the discovery of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) 20 years ago, considerable progress has been made in understanding melanopsin's contributions to encoding irradiance. Much less is known about the cone inputs to ipRGCs and how they could encode changes in the color of the sky. I will summarize our recent connectomic investigation into the cone-opponent inputs to primate ipRGCs and the implications of this work on our understanding of circadian photoentrainment and the evolution of color vision.

SeminarNeuroscience

On the contributions of retinal direction selectivity to cortical motion processing in mice

Rune Nguyen Rasmussen
University of Copenhagen
Jun 9, 2022

Cells preferentially responding to visual motion in a particular direction are said to be direction-selective, and these were first identified in the primary visual cortex. Since then, direction-selective responses have been observed in the retina of several species, including mice, indicating motion analysis begins at the earliest stage of the visual hierarchy. Yet little is known about how retinal direction selectivity contributes to motion processing in the visual cortex. In this talk, I will present our experimental efforts to narrow this gap in our knowledge. To this end, we used genetic approaches to disrupt direction selectivity in the retina and mapped neuronal responses to visual motion in the visual cortex of mice using intrinsic signal optical imaging and two-photon calcium imaging. In essence, our work demonstrates that direction selectivity computed at the level of the retina causally serves to establish specialized motion responses in distinct areas of the mouse visual cortex. This finding thus compels us to revisit our notions of how the brain builds complex visual representations and underscores the importance of the processing performed in the periphery of sensory systems.

SeminarNeuroscience

The evolution of computation in the brain: Insights from studying the retina

Tom Baden
University of Sussex (UK)
Jun 1, 2022

The retina is probably the most accessible part of the vertebrate central nervous system. Its computational logic can be interrogated in a dish, from patterns of lights as the natural input, to spike trains on the optic nerve as the natural output. Consequently, retinal circuits include some of the best understood computational networks in neuroscience. The retina is also ancient, and central to the emergence of neurally complex life on our planet. Alongside new locomotor strategies, the parallel evolution of image forming vision in vertebrate and invertebrate lineages is thought to have driven speciation during the Cambrian. This early investment in sophisticated vision is evident in the fossil record and from comparing the retina’s structural make up in extant species. Animals as diverse as eagles and lampreys share the same retinal make up of five classes of neurons, arranged into three nuclear layers flanking two synaptic layers. Some retina neuron types can be linked across the entire vertebrate tree of life. And yet, the functions that homologous neurons serve in different species, and the circuits that they innervate to do so, are often distinct to acknowledge the vast differences in species-specific visuo-behavioural demands. In the lab, we aim to leverage the vertebrate retina as a discovery platform for understanding the evolution of computation in the nervous system. Working on zebrafish alongside birds, frogs and sharks, we ask: How do synapses, neurons and networks enable ‘function’, and how can they rearrange to meet new sensory and behavioural demands on evolutionary timescales?

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

What the fly’s eye tells the fly’s brain…and beyond

Gwyneth Card
Janelia Research Campus, HHMI
May 31, 2022

Fly Escape Behaviors: Flexible and Modular We have identified a set of escape maneuvers performed by a fly when confronted by a looming object. These escape responses can be divided into distinct behavioral modules. Some of the modules are very stereotyped, as when the fly rapidly extends its middle legs to jump off the ground. Other modules are more complex and require the fly to combine information about both the location of the threat and its own body posture. In response to an approaching object, a fly chooses some varying subset of these behaviors to perform. We would like to understand the neural process by which a fly chooses when to perform a given escape behavior. Beyond an appealing set of behaviors, this system has two other distinct advantages for probing neural circuitry. First, the fly will perform escape behaviors even when tethered such that its head is fixed and neural activity can be imaged or monitored using electrophysiology. Second, using Drosophila as an experimental animal makes available a rich suite of genetic tools to activate, silence, or image small numbers of cells potentially involved in the behaviors. Neural Circuits for Escape Until recently, visually induced escape responses have been considered a hardwired reflex in Drosophila. White-eyed flies with deficient visual pigment will perform a stereotyped middle-leg jump in response to a light-off stimulus, and this reflexive response is known to be coordinated by the well-studied giant fiber (GF) pathway. The GFs are a pair of electrically connected, large-diameter interneurons that traverse the cervical connective. A single GF spike results in a stereotyped pattern of muscle potentials on both sides of the body that extends the fly's middle pair of legs and starts the flight motor. Recently, we have found that a fly escaping a looming object displays many more behaviors than just leg extension. Most of these behaviors could not possibly be coordinated by the known anatomy of the GF pathway. Response to a looming threat thus appears to involve activation of numerous different neural pathways, which the fly may decide if and when to employ. Our goal is to identify the descending pathways involved in coordinating these escape behaviors as well as the central brain circuits, if any, that govern their activation. Automated Single-Fly Screening We have developed a new kind of high-throughput genetic screen to automatically capture fly escape sequences and quantify individual behaviors. We use this system to perform a high-throughput genetic silencing screen to identify cell types of interest. Automation permits analysis at the level of individual fly movements, while retaining the capacity to screen through thousands of GAL4 promoter lines. Single-fly behavioral analysis is essential to detect more subtle changes in behavior during the silencing screen, and thus to identify more specific components of the contributing circuits than previously possible when screening populations of flies. Our goal is to identify candidate neurons involved in coordination and choice of escape behaviors. Measuring Neural Activity During Behavior We use whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology to determine the functional roles of any identified candidate neurons. Flies perform escape behaviors even when their head and thorax are immobilized for physiological recording. This allows us to link a neuron's responses directly to an action.

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

The Standard Model of the Retina

Markus Meister
Caltech
May 24, 2022

The science of the retina has reached an interesting stage of completion. There exists now a consensus standard model of this neural system - at least in the minds of many researchers - that serves as a baseline against which to evaluate new claims. The standard model links phenomena from molecular biophysics, cell biology, neuroanatomy, synaptic physiology, circuit function, and visual psychophysics. It is further supported by a normative theory explaining what the purpose is of processing visual information this way. Most new reports of retinal phenomena fit squarely within the standard model, and major revisions seem increasingly unlikely. Given that our understanding of other brain circuits with comparable complexity is much more rudimentary, it is worth considering an example of what success looks like. In this talk I will summarize what I think are the ingredients that led to this mature understanding of the retina. Equally important, a number of practices and concepts that are currently en vogue in neuroscience were not needed or indeed counterproductive. I look forward to debating how these lessons might extend to other areas of brain research.

SeminarNeuroscience

How do ipRGCs work? Evidence from the pupil light reflex

Pablo Alejandro Barrionuevo
National Scientific and Technical Research Council/CONICET (Argentina)
May 24, 2022

Since the discovery of the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) – just two decades ago – substantial work has been carried out trying to understand their functioning. In this seminar, I’ll focus on pupillometry studies that have provided key clues about ipRGC behavior. Specifically, the interaction between the intrinsic response, rods, and cones will be discussed.

SeminarNeuroscience

Light-induced moderations in vitality and sleep in the field

Karin C. H. J. Smolders
Eindhoven University of Technology
May 18, 2022

Retinal light exposure is modulated by our behavior, and light exposure patterns show strong variations within and between persons. Yet, most laboratory studies investigated influences of constant lighting settings on human daytime functioning and sleep. In this presentation, I will discuss a series of studies investigating light-induced moderations in sleepiness, vitality and sleep, with a strong focus on the temporal dynamics in these effects, and the bi-directional relation between persons' light profiles and their behavior.

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

A draft connectome for ganglion cell types of the mouse retina

David Berson
Brown University
May 15, 2022

The visual system of the brain is highly parallel in its architecture. This is clearly evident in the outputs of the retina, which arise from neurons called ganglion cells. Work in our lab has shown that mammalian retinas contain more than a dozen distinct types of ganglion cells. Each type appears to filter the retinal image in a unique way and to relay this processed signal to a specific set of targets in the brain. My students and I are working to understand the meaning of this parallel organization through electrophysiological and anatomical studies. We record from light-responsive ganglion cells in vitro using the whole-cell patch method. This allows us to correlate directly the visual response properties, intrinsic electrical behavior, synaptic pharmacology, dendritic morphology and axonal projections of single neurons. Other methods used in the lab include neuroanatomical tracing techniques, single-unit recording and immunohistochemistry. We seek to specify the total number of ganglion cell types, the distinguishing characteristics of each type, and the intraretinal mechanisms (structural, electrical, and synaptic) that shape their stimulus selectivities. Recent work in the lab has identified a bizarre new ganglion cell type that is also a photoreceptor, capable of responding to light even when it is synaptically uncoupled from conventional (rod and cone) photoreceptors. These ganglion cells appear to play a key role in resetting the biological clock. It is just this sort of link, between a specific cell type and a well-defined behavioral or perceptual function, that we seek to establish for the full range of ganglion cell types. My research concerns the structural and functional organization of retinal ganglion cells, the output cells of the retina whose axons make up the optic nerve. Ganglion cells exhibit great diversity both in their morphology and in their responses to light stimuli. On this basis, they are divisible into a large number of types (>15). Each ganglion-cell type appears to send its outputs to a specific set of central visual nuclei. This suggests that ganglion cell heterogeneity has evolved to provide each visual center in the brain with pre-processed representations of the visual scene tailored to its specific functional requirements. Though the outline of this story has been appreciated for some time, it has received little systematic exploration. My laboratory is addressing in parallel three sets of related questions: 1) How many types of ganglion cells are there in a typical mammalian retina and what are their structural and functional characteristics? 2) What combination of synaptic networks and intrinsic membrane properties are responsible for the characteristic light responses of individual types? 3) What do the functional specializations of individual classes contribute to perceptual function or to visually mediated behavior? To pursue these questions, we label retinal ganglion cells by retrograde transport from the brain; analyze in vitro their light responses, intrinsic membrane properties and synaptic pharmacology using the whole-cell patch clamp method; and reveal their morphology with intracellular dyes. Recently, we have discovered a novel ganglion cell in rat retina that is intrinsically photosensitive. These ganglion cells exhibit robust light responses even when all influences from classical photoreceptors (rods and cones) are blocked, either by applying pharmacological agents or by dissociating the ganglion cell from the retina. These photosensitive ganglion cells seem likely to serve as photoreceptors for the photic synchronization of circadian rhythms, the mechanism that allows us to overcome jet lag. They project to the circadian pacemaker of the brain, the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. Their temporal kinetics, threshold, dynamic range, and spectral tuning all match known properties of the synchronization or "entrainment" mechanism. These photosensitive ganglion cells innervate various other brain targets, such as the midbrain pupillary control center, and apparently contribute to a host of behavioral responses to ambient lighting conditions. These findings help to explain why circadian and pupillary light responses persist in mammals, including humans, with profound disruption of rod and cone function. Ongoing experiments are designed to elucidate the phototransduction mechanism, including the identity of the photopigment and the nature of downstream signaling pathways. In other studies, we seek to provide a more detailed characterization of the photic responsiveness and both morphological and functional evidence concerning possible interactions with conventional rod- and cone-driven retinal circuits. These studies are of potential value in understanding and designing appropriate therapies for jet lag, the negative consequences of shift work, and seasonal affective disorder.

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Why do some animals have more than two eyes?

Lauren Sumner-Rooney
Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity
May 8, 2022

The evolution of vision revolutionised animal biology, and eyes have evolved in a stunning array of diverse forms over the past half a billion years. Among these are curious duplicated visual systems, where eyes can be spread across the body and specialised for different tasks. Although it sounds radical, duplicated vision is found in most major groups across the animal kingdom, but remains poorly understood. We will explore how and why animals collect information about their environment in this unusual way, looking at examples from tropical forests to the sea floor, and from ancient arthropods to living jellyfish. Have we been short-changed with just two eyes? Dr Lauren Sumner-Rooney is a Research Fellow at the OUMNH studying the function and evolution of animal visual systems. Lauren completed her undergraduate degree at Oxford in 2012, and her PhD at Queen’s University Belfast in 2015. She worked as a research technician and science communicator at the Royal Veterinary College (2015-2016) and held a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin (2016-2017) before arriving at the Museum in 2017.

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

The evolution and development of visual complexity: insights from stomatopod visual anatomy, physiology, behavior, and molecules

Megan Porter
University of Hawaii
May 1, 2022

Bioluminescence, which is rare on land, is extremely common in the deep sea, being found in 80% of the animals living between 200 and 1000 m. These animals rely on bioluminescence for communication, feeding, and/or defense, so the generation and detection of light is essential to their survival. Our present knowledge of this phenomenon has been limited due to the difficulty in bringing up live deep-sea animals to the surface, and the lack of proper techniques needed to study this complex system. However, new genomic techniques are now available, and a team with extensive experience in deep-sea biology, vision, and genomics has been assembled to lead this project. This project is aimed to study three questions 1) What are the evolutionary patterns of different types of bioluminescence in deep-sea shrimp? 2) How are deep-sea organisms’ eyes adapted to detect bioluminescence? 3) Can bioluminescent organs (called photophores) detect light in addition to emitting light? Findings from this study will provide valuable insight into a complex system vital to communication, defense, camouflage, and species recognition. This study will bring monumental contributions to the fields of deep sea and evolutionary biology, and immediately improve our understanding of bioluminescence and light detection in the marine environment. In addition to scientific advancement, this project will reach K-college aged students through the development and dissemination of educational tools, a series of molecular and organismal-based workshops, museum exhibits, public seminars, and biodiversity initiatives.

SeminarNeuroscienceRecording

Retinal responses to natural inputs

Fred Rieke
University of Washington
Apr 17, 2022

The research in my lab focuses on sensory signal processing, particularly in cases where sensory systems perform at or near the limits imposed by physics. Photon counting in the visual system is a beautiful example. At its peak sensitivity, the performance of the visual system is limited largely by the division of light into discrete photons. This observation has several implications for phototransduction and signal processing in the retina: rod photoreceptors must transduce single photon absorptions with high fidelity, single photon signals in photoreceptors, which are only 0.03 – 0.1 mV, must be reliably transmitted to second-order cells in the retina, and absorption of a single photon by a single rod must produce a noticeable change in the pattern of action potentials sent from the eye to the brain. My approach is to combine quantitative physiological experiments and theory to understand photon counting in terms of basic biophysical mechanisms. Fortunately there is more to visual perception than counting photons. The visual system is very adept at operating over a wide range of light intensities (about 12 orders of magnitude). Over most of this range, vision is mediated by cone photoreceptors. Thus adaptation is paramount to cone vision. Again one would like to understand quantitatively how the biophysical mechanisms involved in phototransduction, synaptic transmission, and neural coding contribute to adaptation.

ePoster

Do direction selective retinal ganglion cells encode information uniformly?

Carlo Paris, Felix Hubert, Felix Franke, Olivier Marre, Matthew Chalk, Ulisse Ferrari

Bernstein Conference 2024

ePoster

End-to-end pipeline to achieve state-of-the-art cell typing in large-scale retinal recordings

Chiara Boscarino, Simone Azeglio, Thomas Buffet, Gabriel Mahuas, Ulisse Ferrari, Olivier Marre

Bernstein Conference 2024

ePoster

Generalizing deep neural network model captures the functional organization of feature selective retinal ganglion cell axonal boutons in the superior colliculus

Mels Akhmetali, Yongrong Qiu, Na Zhou, Lisa Schmors, Andreas Tolias, Jacob Reimer, Katrin Franke, Fabian Sinz

Bernstein Conference 2024

ePoster

The retina processes different parts of a moving object in parallel

Samuele Virgili, Thomas Buffet, Olivier Marre

Bernstein Conference 2024

ePoster

Short-term adaptation reshapes retinal ganglion cell selectivity to natural scenes

Baptiste Lorenzi, Samuele Virgili, Déborah Varro, Olivier Marre

Bernstein Conference 2024

ePoster

Toward a biophysically-detailed, fully-differentiable model of the mouse retina

Kyra Kadhim, Ziwei Huang, Michael Deistler, Jonas Beck, Thomas Euler, Jakob Macke, Philipp Berens

Bernstein Conference 2024

ePoster

A biophysically detailed model of retinal degeneration

COSYNE 2022

ePoster

Divergence of chromatic information in GABAergic amacrine cells in the retina

COSYNE 2022

ePoster

Emergence of an orientation map in the mouse superior colliculus from stage III retinal waves

COSYNE 2022

ePoster

Identifying the nonlinear structure of receptive fields in the mammalian retina

COSYNE 2022

ePoster

Identifying the nonlinear structure of receptive fields in the mammalian retina

COSYNE 2022

ePoster

Large retinal populations are collectively organized to efficiently process natural scenes

COSYNE 2022

ePoster

Large retinal populations are collectively organized to efficiently process natural scenes

COSYNE 2022

ePoster

Large-scale paired recordings reveal strong and specific connections between retina and midbrain.

COSYNE 2022

ePoster

Large-scale paired recordings reveal strong and specific connections between retina and midbrain.

COSYNE 2022

ePoster

Mind the gradient: context-dependent selectivity to natural images in the retina revealed with a novel perturbative approach

COSYNE 2022

ePoster

Mind the gradient: context-dependent selectivity to natural images in the retina revealed with a novel perturbative approach

COSYNE 2022

ePoster

The smart image compression algorithm in the retina: recoding inputs in neural circuits

COSYNE 2022

ePoster

The smart image compression algorithm in the retina: recoding inputs in neural circuits

COSYNE 2022

ePoster

A biophysically detailed model of retinal degeneration

Aiwen Xu & Michael Beyeler

COSYNE 2023

ePoster

Brainstem serotonin neurons selectively gate retinal information flow to thalamus

Mark Andermann, Andrew Lutas, Liang Liang, Jesseba Fernando, Jasmine Reggiani, Melanie Barbini, Qiufen Jiang, Fei Deng, Jinxia Wan, Yulong Li, Chinfei Chen

COSYNE 2023

ePoster

Model-guided discovery of a retinal chromatic feature detector that signals visual context changes

Larissa Höfling, Philipp Berens, Thomas Euler, Klaudia P. Szatko, Christian Behrens, Yongrong Qiu, David Klindt, Zachary Frazier Jessen, Gregory William Schwartz, Timm Schubert, Matthias Bethge, Katrin Franke, Alexander Ecker

COSYNE 2023

ePoster

A novel deep neural network models two streams of visual processing from retina to cortex

Minkyu Choi, Kuan Han, Xiaokai Wang, Zhongming Liu

COSYNE 2023

ePoster

Pre-training artificial neural networks with spontaneous retinal activity improves image prediction

Lilly May, Alice Dauphin, Julijana Gjorgjieva

COSYNE 2023

ePoster

Retinal scene statistics for freely moving mice

Yuchen Hou, Aiwen Xu, Dylan Martins, Amirali Vahid, Elliott Abe, Cristopher Niell, Michael Beyeler

COSYNE 2023

ePoster

Single-cell precision of axonal projection from the retina to the superior colliculus in mice

Hiroki Asari

COSYNE 2023

ePoster

Temporal pattern recognition in retinal ganglion cells is mediated by dynamical inhibitory synapses

Simone Ebert, Thomas Buffet, Semihchan Sermat, Olivier Marre, Bruno Cessac

COSYNE 2023

ePoster

Zero-shot learning of decodable natural features from the retina using a U-net

Siwei Wang, Benjamin Hoshal, Elizabeth de Laittre, Olivier Marre, Michael Berry, Stephanie Palmer

COSYNE 2023

ePoster

Carbon-based neural interfaces to probe retinal and cortical circuits with functional ultrasound imaging in vivo

Julie Zhang, Eduard Masvidal-Codina, F. Taygun Duvan, Florian Fallegger, Diep Nguyen, Steven Walston, Vi Anh Nguyen, Julie Dégardin, Ruben Goulet, Quénol César, Fabrice Arcizet, Jose A. Garrido, Anton Guimerà-Brunet, Rob C. Wykes, Serge Picaud

FENS Forum 2024

ePoster

Characterization of retinal signal transformation in the mouse superior colliculus

Firdaouss Zemmouri, Hiroki Asari

FENS Forum 2024

ePoster

Comparative analysis of biophysical properties of ON-alpha sustained RGCs in wild-type and rd10 retina

Viktoria Kiraly, Molis Yunzab, Francisco Nadal-Nicolas, Steven Stasheff, Shelley Fried, Günther Zeck, Paul Werginz

FENS Forum 2024

ePoster

Comparison of modulation efficiency between normal and degenerated primate retina

Yongseok Yoo, Seongkwang Cha, Yong Sook Goo

FENS Forum 2024

ePoster

Decoding retinitis pigmentosa: Unveiling PRPF31 mutation effects on human iPSC-derived retinal organoids in vitro models

Alessandro Bellapianta, Ammer-Pickhardt Franziska, David Demmel, Johannes Pröll, Matthias Bolz, Ahmad Salti

FENS Forum 2024

ePoster

The early light experience alters Stage II retinal waves via dopamine-modulated pathway in the developing mouse retina

Bo-Ze Liao, Shih-Kuo Chen, Chuan-Chin Chiao

FENS Forum 2024

ePoster

Functional and morphological characterization of zebrafish retinal ganglion cell subtypes expressing the transcription factor Satb2

Ayjan Urazbayeva, Fumi Kubo

FENS Forum 2024

ePoster

High dose fish oil supplementation decreases amyloid beta accumulation in retinal blood vessels in 5xFAD mice

Irena Jovanovic Macura, Jelena Ciric, Nikola Milovanovic, Tamara Major, Milka Perovic, Sanja Ivkovic

FENS Forum 2024

ePoster

High precision ultrasound stimulation of the retina with photoacoustic membrane

Audrey Leong, Yueming Li, Julien Voillot, Arnaud Facon, Chakrya-Anna Chhuon, Clémence Bradic, Jean-Damien Louise, Serge Rosolen, Hélène Moulet, Chen Yang, Ji-Xin Cheng, Serge Picaud

FENS Forum 2024

ePoster

Histaminergic circadian modulation of mouse retinal output in vivo

Matteo Tripodi, Dmitry Molotkov, Hiroki Asari

FENS Forum 2024

ePoster

Human microglia-dependent viral-mediated inflammation impairs retinal organoid development

Verena Schmied, Medina Korkut-Demirbas, Alessandro Venturino, Sandra Siegert

FENS Forum 2024

ePoster

Influence of dendritic morphology on spike generation in alpha retinal ganglion cells

David Ernstberger, Viktória Király, Günther Zeck, Paul Werginz

FENS Forum 2024