Friend, Yves Sauvé sent in this paper by Silmara de Lima, Yoshiki Koriyama, Takuji Kurimoto, Julia Teixeira Oliveira, Yuqin Yin, Yiqing Li, Hui-Ya Gilbert, Michela Fagiolini, Ana Maria Blanco Martinez, and Larry Benowitz that documents regeneration of the optic nerve in the adult mouse, a potentially substantial breakthrough in therapeutic recovery of vision lost through disease or …
Notable Paper: Functional and Anatomical Remodeling in Human Retinal Detachment
This manuscript by Clairton F de Souza, Michael Kalloniatis, Philip J Polkinghorne, Charles N J McGhee and Monica L Acosta examined retinal remodeling in response to a form of retinal detachment. Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. The authors describe the changes observed and note that retinal plasticity is acute and likely occurs quickly enough that it may explain persistent …
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Complicated Retinal Detatchment
This set of images (click the image above to enlarge) are optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of retained perfluoro-octane(PFO) droplets after repair of a complicated retinal detachment. PFO is a good surgical tool to help reattach the retina as they force sub retinal fluid out of any retinal tears and helps adhere the retina …
Notable Paper: Microglia Sculpt Postnatal Neural Circuits In An Activity And Complement-Dependent Manner
This very cool study by Dorothy P. Schafer, Emily K. Lehrman, Amanda G. Kautzman, Ryuta Koyama, Alan R. Mardinly, Ryo Yamasaki, Richard M. Ransohoff, Michael E. Greenberg, Ben A. Barres and Beth Stevens demonstrates how the immune system can participate in the circuitry of the developing mouse lateral genicular nucleus (LGN). As the immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS), microglia are constantly …
ValuJet Memorial
Your Brain Develops The Negative
Instructions: 1. Stare at the gray dot on the woman’s nose for 30 seconds (click on image for larger size). 2. Look quickly at the gray box below (or look at a plain surface like a ceiling or blank wall). 3. Blink repeatedly and quickly. What you should see is a full color representation of …
Notable Paper: Age-Related Changes In The Daily Rhythm of Photoreceptor Functioning And Circuitry In A Melatonin-Proficient Mouse Strain
This is an interesting study in PLoS One examining the involvement of melatonin in the retina, particularly in the survival of retinal neurons through aging studies in CH3-f+/+ mice, a melatonin proficient mouse strain. As expected, certain physiological measures (a and b waves) are lost during aging, and in particular, the daily circadian rhythms of those measures. …
Lobster Eye Design Informs NASA X-Ray Detector
In a classic case of biology informing other areas of science, we have NASA scientists at Goddard Space Flight Center, Scott Barthelmy, Gerry Skinner and Jordan Camp who have built a new X-Ray astronomy instrument inspired by the design of a lobster eye with long, compound ommatidium or eye-elements that capture light from a wide …
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Iris Changes Complicate Biometric Scans
This is an interesting news article in Nature that describes alterations in the iris in individuals over time. We’ve always been told that irises do not change as we age, but that simply did not make sense to a number of people I’ve spoken with in the past. Certainly there were questions of trauma and …
Pupilloplasty
The pupil is the aperture through which light passes into the eye and is created by the circular ring of thin muscles known as the iris. These images are from a pupilloplasty made with a 10.0 prolene suture. Pupilloplasties are designed to reconstruct the shape of the pupil, typically after traumatic damage or other surgical …
Photovoltaic Retinal Prosthesis With High Pixel Density
Retinas are complex systems and engineered rescues of vision loss through bionic means have to date been inelegant solutions. Retinal bionic implants have historically not been successes due to some glaring problems including how to power them and how to get the appropriate current close enough to the cells to induce a response. However, researchers …
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Heading To ARVO 2012
We are on our way to ARVO, 2012! ARVO is an annual meeting of researchers and clinicians who’s focus is on the visual system. As happened last year, over the next few days, you will see some of our research abstracts appear on Webvision as the presentations are completed at ARVO. We hope that it will …
Review: Optogenetic Investigation of Neural Circuits Underlying Brain Disease in Animal Models
Kay M. Tye and Karl Deisseroth have published a really nice review paper in Nature Reviews on using optogenetics toolkits to study neural systems for brain disease. While the real emphasis of their review is on using optogenetics for behavioral research and they only mention vision in passing with a couple of nods to two of Busskamp’s …
Stray Arrow Ranch in Torrey, Utah
On My Way To Plant An Orchard
