We study the molecular and physiological mechanisms that underlie maladaptive plasticity during and after degenerative blindness.
Our goal is to improve vision in retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration patients, by blocking or reversing remodeling.​
Different modalities of stimulation can be produced to excite light-responses in ex-vivo retinal samples, using custom-designed code and an optical pathway developed to project through the microscope's objective via a Digital Micromirror Device. In this example, produced by Lab Manager and Researcher Jared Endres, random White Noise stimulation (left) is projected onto the naked multi-electrode array, through a 16X objective with a radius of ~100 um.
Spearheaded by Postdoctoral Associate Dr. Leonor Afrima, the unconditioned behavior of mice in a dark/light visual paradigm can be automatically tracked using an Artificial Intelligence algorithm, finely-tuned to recognize key anatomical locations and rapidly adjust relative distances to produce a continuous, autonomous, and unbiased analysis of locomotion, grooming, freezing, resting, and other stereotypical behaviors affected by light sensitivity and image perception.
In-vivo imaging of an individual Retinal Ganglion Cell in transgenic Thy1-YFP mouse obtained by Postdoctoral Associate Dr. Soumaya Belhadj using Adaptive-Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy in collaboration with Dr. Jesse Schallek and his team at the Flaum Eye Institute, University of Rochester Medical Center.
