Ala-Laurila Lab
Our Goal
... is to utilize the neural circuits of the retina to reveal fundamental principles of neural computations at quantal resolution.
Research Overview
Our ability to see in vastly varying conditions depends critically on the outstanding performance of vision. Vision begins in the neural circuits of the retina, which operate with a remarkable fidelity. We study novel signal processing mechanisms and their adaptive dynamics at the synaptic and cellular-element level across the entire neural circuit of the retina.We do so by combining a battery of techniques allowing precise manipulations of local signal and noise statistics in a well-defined retinal circuit relying on genetically modified mice, molecularly tailored artificial visual pigment molecules, and cutting- edge electrophysiological recording techniques. We seek to understand the functional implications of novel retinal signal processing mechanisms by correlating our results with the output of the entire visual system measured in mouse behavioral experiments and human psychophysics experiments.