Project Title: Circuitry mechanisms of visual object recognition and memory in zebrafish

Supervisor: Dr Anton Nikolaev (Dr Nikolaev joins the department in March 2013)

The vertebrate visual system is able to recognize large number of objects of different appearances, but the mechanisms of object recognition largely remain unknown. A popular model suggests that at the first stage of the visual processing, information about the stimulus is split into feature selective channels. Subsequently, different feature selective neurons converge to form object selective neurons.

Despite the strong progress in our understanding of vision, little is known about the neuronal circuits underlying these processing strategies. To tackle this problem, one needs to follow the processing of visual information at different stages along the visual pathway. Development of genetically encoded calcium indicators allowing simultaneous recoding of the activity of a large population of neurons made this difficult task feasible.

Current project proposes to study how visual information is processed by the retina and the brain. You will use a combination of functional imaging and behavioral experiments to understand the principles that the visual system of zebrafish employs in tasks such as object recognition and memory.

This project is available to start in Autumn 2013, and is open to UK and EU students. International students may also apply but the higher fee status will need to be covered by additional funds or competitive award of a fee waiver.

References:

1. Ungerleider, L.G. & Bell, A.H.
   Uncovering the visual "alphabet": advances in our understanding of object perception.
   Vision Res 51, 782-799.
2. Gollisch, T. & Meister, M.
   Eye smarter than scientists believed: neural computations in circuits of the retina.
   Neuron 65, 150-164.

Contact details:

Dr Anton Nikolaev

Email: nikolaev@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk