Synapses as Independent Computational Units in the Excitatory Pathways of the Retina

The goal of our research is to discover the mechanisms of visual computation in the retina. This proposal studies a circuit in which a single neuron transmits two functionally distinct signals to downstream neurons from different synapses. The discovery that synapses, rather than neurons, are the independent computational units of the inner retina will have important implications for the models of retinal function used in retinal prosthetics. This research will also have impacts beyond the retina in revealing fundamental principles of neural circuit architecture and mechanism in line with the goals of the BRAIN initiative.