Biopharmaceutics
Laboratory for Systems Neuroscience and Developmental Biology
Investigation of the ON-OFF Visual Transmission Pathways in Retinal Circuits Governing Visual Behavioral Responses
We depend on visual information for many of our perceptions and behaviors in regard to our daily lives. The retina is the only nervous tissue that converts optical information into neural information. While it is well-known that visual information is processed in the cortical visual area, the retina is responsible for processing fundamental and important information. In essence, the most important function of vision is to capture shape and form. Our vision, whether in light or darkness, can usually capture the outline of an object. In order to do this, our vision possesses an ON/OFF circuit. This laboratory tries to elucidate the visual response control by the retinal circuit by analyzing the ON/OFF circuit, the core of retinal information processing, using bioengineering techniques.