Award Details:
Award Type: Catalyst
Award #: C-099
Proposal Title: Functional Optophysiological Mapping of Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells
PI(s): Xincheng Yao (UIC) and Tiffany Schmidt (NU)
Award Amount: $248,770.00
Application Cycle: Round 29 (Spring 2020)
Award Start Date: September 1, 2020
Award End Date: August 31, 2022
Abstract:
Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglions cells (ipRGCs) represent a recently discovered class of retinal ganglion cells that respond to light in the absence of the canonical rod and cone photoreceptors due to their expression of the photopigment melanopsin. A deeper understanding of melanopsin containing ipRGCs is essential for in-depth understanding of the nature of the visual system, and for the development of new and robust methodologies for disease detection. To date, single-cell electrophysiology has been the primary tool used to investigate the physiological response properties in individual ipRGCs. However, this technique is limited by its inability to record the response of multiple ipRGC subtypes simultaneously. Thus, whether and how multiple ipRGCs or even ipRGC subtypes work together in a coherent neural network is not well understood. Here we propose to explore the feasibility of using stimulus-evoked intrinsic optical signal (IOS) changes for optophysiological mapping of multiple ipRGCs simultaneously.