Previous projects

Orientation & Dynamic Predictive Coding in the Retina

Sensory systems must reduce the transmission of redundant information to function efficiently. One strategy is to continuously adjust the sensitivity of neurons to suppress responses to common features of the input while enhancing responses to new ones. In this project we used 2-photon imaging of the synaptic transmitter glutamate. Taking advantage of the genetically encoded […]

Motion Anticipation in the retina

General Features of the retinal connectome determine the computation of motion anticipation Light is converted into electrical signals by specialized cells in the retina called photoreceptors. This conversion process, termed phototransduction, is relatively slow, taking around a tenth of a second. Although this might not sound like a long time, it is enough for a […]

Rapid mapping of receptive fields

And its application to multi-neuronal electrophysiology and imaging Neurons in sensory systems have receptive fields. In the somatosensory system, this might be an area of the skin to which the neuron is responsive, whereas in the visual system the receptive field is an area on the retina. Several properties of the receptive field are of […]

Olfactory bulb microcircuit

This project explored the intrinsic properties of olfactory bulb output neurons. We showed that input from the olfactory nerve activates Ca2+channels located in the primary dendrites and these contribute to dendritic glutamate release. The resulting depolarisation and boosted glutamate release synchronises the activity of multiple output neurons belonging to the same glomerulus. The papers can be found here […]

Potassium channels in the auditory brainstem

A series of projects examined how different voltage-gated K+ channels enable a fast inverting relay neuron in the auditory brainstem to fulfil its specialised role in sound source localisation. Key papers from this work are here and here. The image to the left shows Kv3.1 staining in the MNTB, note the puncta in the axons where the nodes of […]

Spinal Sensory Neurons with novel action potentials

This project explored the physiological properties of the intriguing cerebrospinal fluid contacting neurons within the spinal cord. These sensory neurons are able to sense bending of the spinal cord and are involved in regulating motor output from the spinal cord. We showed that these sensory neurons have unusual action potentials, rather than using the typical […]