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"Developmental Mechanisms Shaping Direction Selective Circuits in the Retina" 

Marla Feller, Ph.D.
Professor of Neurobiology
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley

*Lunch provided for in-person attendees

Bio
Marla Feller is the Paul Licht Distinguished Professor in Biological Sciences and Member of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley. She studies the mechanisms that underpin the assembly of neural circuits during development. Feller is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Research done in the Feller lab uses a combination of physiology and advanced imaging techniques to study the role of activity in the development of functional neural circuits in the retina.

Research Interests
The Feller lab is interested in the mechanisms that guide the assembly of neural circuits during development. We use the retinas as a model system, where we use  two-photon imaging, electrophysiology and a variety of anatomical approaches to address two major questions.  First, we study how immature retinal circuits generate retinal waves -- a term used to describe highly patterned spontaneous activity in the immature retina -- and what role this activity plays in the development of the retina and the retina's connections to the central visual system. Recently we have focused on a class of neurons called intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells as well as the role of waves in shaping glial cell morphology.  In addition, we study the development and organization of the circuits that mediate direction selectivity in the retina.