We study the development, organization, degeneration, and regeneration of visual circuits. Our goal is to understand the synaptic connectivity rules that convert agglomerations of cells into image-processing circuitry. Light and electron microscopy are our tools of choice.

Check out our study of the anole visual system as we go.

Projects (click for details)

  • Developmental stages of local microcircuits in the mouse dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN)
  • Synaptic organization and subcellular processing in mouse retinal amacrine cells
  • Synaptic segregation during mouse dLGN development
  • Degeneration of denervated dLGN microcircuits
  • Regeneration of retinal inputs in the mouse and lizard dLGN
  • Organization of foveal circuits in the anole dLGN

Techniques (click for details)

  • High throughput 3D serial section electron microscopy
  • Correlated light and electron microscopy (CLEM)
  • Confocal imaging
  • Two-photon imaging
  • Image analysis (custom software, machine vision)

Model Systems (click for details)

  • Mouse Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (dLGN)
  • Mouse retina
  • Human retina
  • Lizard dLGN
Coronal slice through green anole brain showing lamination of optic tectum (blue = DAPI, red = fluomyelin, green = aldehyde)
Coronal slice through green anole brain showing dorsal cortex and optic chasm (blue = DAPI, red = fluomyelin, green = aldehyde)
Retinal ganglion cell inputs into the thalamus from right (red) and left (green) eye.
Eye-specific segregation in the dLGN. Retinal ganglion cell boutons from the left (green) and right (magenta) eye.
Electron micrograph of retinal bipolar cell terminal.
3DEM reconstruction of retinal amacrine cell (red) innervated by OFF (blue) and ON (yellow) bipolar cells.
Electron micrograph of the optic tract and surface of the mouse LGN