Topic: Visual circuits

Four-year doctoral contract in the Eloísa Herrera laboratory studying whether developmental guidance programmes can restore precise connections after optic nerve injury. The work combines mouse genetics, injury and regeneration models, molecular and cellular experiments, advanced microscopy and quantitative axon analysis. Apply with a CV, short motivation letter and one or two referee contacts, using subject FPI-ReVis. Formal contract eligibility follows the official FPI call.

How does the brain interpret signals from the outside world? Walking through a park, you might take for granted the ease with which you can understand what you see. Rather than seeing a series of still snapshots, you are able to see simple, fluid movement — of dogs running, squirrels foraging, or kids playing basketball. You can track their paths and know where they are headed without much thought. “How does this process take place?” asks Rudy Behnia, PhD, a principal investigator at Columbia’s Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute. “For most of us, it’s hard to imagine a world