Current Projects & Techniques

Neural Circuits for Vision and Daily Plasticity

Current projects in the lab

  • Functional importance of gap junctions (or electrical synapses) between photoreceptors in the early steps of the visual process
  • Control of rod/cone electrical coupling by light and circadian clocks (daily plasticity)
  • Role(s) of the rod/cone pathway in the image-forming and the non-image-forming visual systems
  • Transcriptomic analysis of the circadian clock control of retinal functions and cell viability

Techniques

  • 2-photon microscopy
  • Immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy (microscopes: Zeiss LSM-510, LSM-780, LSM-800 with Airyscan)
  • Electrophysiology: single and paired patch-clamp recording of mouse photoreceptors; loose-patch recording of ganglion cells
  • Fluorescence Assisted Cell Sorting (FACS) and RNA sequencing and analysis
  • Mouse genetics: generation and validation of retinal-cell-type-specific mouse lines deficient in clock function (Bmal1-/-) or electrical coupling (Cx36-/-)
  • Behavioral tests: optokinetic/optomotor reflex test, wheel running activity (circadian rhythm, entrainment, masking), pupillary light reflex
  • High pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) with electrochemical detection (EC) of dopamine and melatonin
  • Computational modeling of retinal circuits (photoreceptor network) (Matlab)