Robert Boynton

Dr. Boynton joined the faculty of the University of Rochester in 1952 as an Assistant Professor of Psychology. In 1963, Dr. Boynton founded the University of Rochester's Center for Visual Science (CVS), and served as director of CVS until 1971. He was well known for his research on the neurophysiological processes in the eye and brain that underlie vision. His book, "Human Color Vision" is a standard text studied by others in this area of science. He also published more than 1,500 pages in his more-than-40-year career. The CVS Boynton Colloquium Series, which features leading researchers across the interdisciplinary field of vision research, is named in his honor.


Upcoming Boynton Colloquia

Trent Watkins

April 10, 2024
3:00 p.m., Rm 2-6408, K207 Auditorium (in-person only)

Trent Watkins, UC San Francisco

The Double‐Edged Sword of Stress Signaling in Optic Axons

Developing new therapies to preserve and restore vision in glaucoma and after traumatic optic nerve injury will require an improved understanding of the mechanisms that underlie retinal ganglion cell (RGC) neurodegeneration and limit repair. In our studies, we seek to decipher the transcriptional programs that are activated in response to RGC axonal insults, as these play critical roles in determining the fates of these neurons in disease and injury. Our efforts have helped to define the function of the axonal stress-responsive Dual Leucine-zipper Kinase (DLK) in engaging multiple response pathways with broad impacts on the RGC gene expression. Importantly, blockade of DLK is neuroprotective in models of glaucoma and injury, though we have found that inhibition of this stress response also limits RGC axon regrowth enabled by an experimental regenerative intervention. We’ve further identified the Activating Transcription Factor-4 (ATF4) as an essential mediator of these pro-regenerative and proapoptotic responses in conjunction with the parallel activation of the transcription factor c-Jun. Capitalizing on the coordinated stimulation of ATF4 and c-Jun by DLK signaling, we’ve developed a strategy for augmenting the axonal stress response, finding that, under normal, regeneration-refractory conditions, amplifying DLK activity accelerates RGC loss but, when combined with a regenerative intervention, enhances axon regrowth. Our studies therefore suggest that the coordinated transcriptional programs that drive neurodegeneration might instead be harnessed as part of efforts to restore function in the CNS.


W. Martin Usrey

April 24, 2024
3:00 p.m., Rm 2-6408, K207 Auditorium

W. Martin Usrey, UC Davis

Feedforward and Feedback Interactions for Vision


Past Boynton Colloquia

2024

Kapil Bharti

March 13, 2024

Kapil Bharti, National Eye Institute

Translating RPE Biology into Disease Treatment Using iPS Cells

Download MP4 video (104 MB) CVS Access Only


2023

Jess Cardin

January 31, 2024

Jess Cardin, Department of Neuroscience, Yale School of Medicine

Cortical network events underlying perceptual behavior

Download MP4 video (104 MB) CVS Access Only


Simon Kelly

May 17, 2023

Simon Kelly, University College Dublin

Insights into adaptive perceptual decision formation from human behavior, EEG, and cognitive modelling

Download MP4 video (104 MB) CVS Access Only


Sabine Kastner

May 3, 2023

Sabine Kastner, Princeton University

The Cognitive Visual Thalamus

Download MP4 video (141 MB) CVS Access Only


Bryan Jones

January 18, 2023

Bryan Jones, University of Utah

Retinal Connectomics and Pathoconnectomics

Download MP4 video (219 MB) CVS Access Only


2022

Carlos Ponce

December 14, 2022

Carlos Ponce, Harvard Medical School

Tuning landscapes of the primate ventral stream

Download MP4 video (218 MB)


Jennifer Bizley profile

April 27, 2022

Jennifer Bizley, University College London

How do audiovisual interactions shape sound processing in auditory cortex?

Download MP4 video (199 MB) CVS Access Only