Confocal image of the labeled mitochondrial network inside a corneal fibrobast in culture

Confocal image of the labeled mitochondrial network inside a corneal fibrobast in culture. Courtesy of Huxlin lab (Ankita Kumar)

Unthresholded z-normalized activation differences (illusory – fragmented) as compared to those that were predicted via ActFlow using resting state.

The left panel shows cortical modulations during a visual perceptual organization task; the right panel shows modulations that were predicted from resting-state functional connectivity and brain activity flow mapping (Keane et al., 2021, Neuroimage). Courtesy of Keane lab

visual proprioceptive integration experiment

Yacinda Hernandez (C), a senior psychology major at City College New York works with BCS graduate students Ying Lin, left and Emily Isenstein on an experiment accessing visual proprioceptive integration in Meliora Hall. Courtesy of J. Adam Fenster / University of Rochester

3D visualization: Optic disk cube

OCT macula cube image showing neural layers from the inner limiting membrane (top) to the retinal pigment epithelium (bottom). Courtesy of Silverstein lab

Reflectance (left) and two-photon excited fluorescence (right) image of the photoreceptor mosaic in the living macaque eye.

Reflectance (left) and two-photon excited fluorescence (right) image of the photoreceptor mosaic in the living macaque eye. The main source of fluorescence is most likely all-trans-retinol. Courtesy of ARIA

Macula OCT

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) macula scan, with color added to highlight retinal neural and supporting layers. Courtesy of Silverstein lab

AngioPlex retina depth encoded

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) image of the superficial retinal vascular layer, centered on the foveal avascular zone and showing the surrounding microvasculature. Courtesy of Silverstein lab

Ex vivo two-photon microscopy image of ganglion cells

Ex vivo two-photon microscopy image of ganglion cells below the nerve fiber layer. Courtesy of ARIA

soldering practice with Manny Gomez-Ramirez

Lulu Abdullahi (L), a junior at East High, practices soldering to repair an experiment component with Manuel Gomez-Ramirez, an Assistant Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, in the Haptics Lab in Meliora Hall. Courtesy of J. Adam Fenster / University of Rochester

Researchers in the Center for Visual Science (CVS) have been at the forefront in developing advanced scientific techniques, including:

  • Multi-electrode recordings in awake-behaving monkeys
  • Virtual reality tools for studying complex visuomotor behaviors
  • Advanced mathematical analysis of behavioral and neural data
  • Adaptive optics applications to basic and clinical vision research
  • Optical and molecular tools for refractive error correction and vision restoration

CVS had been built on the conviction that progress in vision science requires the coordinated efforts of scientists with very different skills. Researchers in the center apply a number of approaches to their research.

Research Themes at CVS

Visual Perception, Cognition and Action

  • Briggs lab: Understanding vision and attention at the level of neural circuits
  • Chapman lab: Research in brain information processing
  • DeAngelis lab: Neural basis of 3D visual perception and multi-sensory cue integration
  • Diaz lab: Visual guidance of action
  • Fiebelkorn lab: Neural dynamics underlying visual selective attention
  • Haefner lab: Perceptual decision-making
  • Huxlin lab: Characterizing the impact of V1 damage on perception and action
  • Jacobs lab: Visual and multisensory learning and memory, perceptual psychophysics, computational modeling
  • Kanan lab: Brain-inspired and deep neural network models of vision and memory
  • Keane lab: Mechanisms of visual object perception via psychophysics and fMRI
  • Marcos lab: The impacts of optics on visual perception, function and neural adaptation
  • Mitchell lab: Primate visual cortex, active vision, perception, and attention
  • Murdoch lab: Color perception and visual adaptation in advanced displays and lighting systems
  • Padmanabhan lab: Dissecting the neural circuits underlying sensory coding and psychiatric disease
  • Poletti lab: The interplay of vision, eye movements and attention
  • Pelz lab: Eye movements in natural tasks
  • Romanski lab: Functional organization of the primate frontal lobes
  • Rucci lab: Vision and action
  • Snyder lab: Micro- and macro-scale mechanisms of visual attention
  • Suarez-Jimenez lab: Spatial mapping and learning using MRI, VR, and eye-tracking
  • Tadin lab: Mechanisms of visual perception
  • Telias lab: Studying how retinal disease degrades vision and how to restore it

Visual Development, Learning and Plasticity

  • Foxe lab: Basic neurophysiology of schizophrenia and autism
  • Huxlin lab: Using visual learning and plasticity for vision restoration after V1 damage
  • Jacobs lab: Visual and multisensory learning and memory, perceptual psychophysics, computational modeling
  • Kanan lab: Brain-inspired and deep neural network models of vision and memory
  • Majewska lab: Imaging synaptic structure and function in the visual system
  • Padmanabhan lab: Dissecting the neural circuits underlying sensory coding and psychiatric disease
  • Suarez-Jimenez lab: Spatial mapping and learning using MRI, VR, and eye-tracking
  • Tadin lab: Perceptual learning and cognitive training
  • Telias lab: Maladaptive plasticity of retinal neurons in blindness

Multisensory and Sensorimotor Integration

  • DeAngelis lab: Neural basis of 3D visual perception and multi-sensory cue integration
  • Gomez-Ramirez lab: Neural dynamics in cross-modal circuits mediating haptics
  • Jacobs lab: Visual and multisensory learning and memory, perceptual psychophysics, computational modeling
  • Lalor lab: Modeling the neurophysiological processing of natural stimuli in humans
  • Maddox lab: Auditory and multisensory processing
  • Poletti/Rucci lab: Retinal, motor, and proprioceptive integration in the establishment of visual representations
  • Romanski lab: Functional organization of the primate frontal lobes
  • Schieber lab: Neural control of hand and finger movements

Advanced Optical Technology

  • Fienup lab: Image processing, wavefront sensing
  • Gomez-Ramirez lab: Optogenetics stimulation and calcium imaging in mammalian brains
  • Kanan lab: Medical computer vision
  • Knox lab: Femtosecond laser technology for vision
  • Marcos lab: Ocular wavefront sensing, adaptive optics vision simulator and high-resolution anterior segment imaging
  • McGregor lab: Optogenetic vision restoration and the physiology of the fovea
  • Merigan lab: In vivo adaptive optics imaging of the retina
  • Poletti/Rucci lab: New methods for eye-tracking, gaze-contingent display control, virtual and augmented reality
  • Rolland lab: Optical system design and instrumentation for imaging science and 3D visualization
  • Schallek lab: Imaging blood flow in the living eye
  • Williams lab: Limits of human vision
  • Zavislan lab: Optical system design for clinical diagnostics

Disorders of Vision

  • Buckley lab: Soft tissue biomechanics
  • DiLoreto lab: VEGF trap treatment for age related macular degeneration, age related eye disease, adaptive optics imaging of inherited macular diseases
  • Feldon lab: Orbital disease and neuro-ophthalmology
  • Foxe lab: Basic neurophysiology of schizophrenia and autism
  • Huxlin lab: Perceptual and molecular approaches to vision restoration
  • Keane lab: Visual differences in psychosis and their clinical significance
  • Libby lab: Neurobiology of glaucoma
  • MacRae lab: Refractive surgery
  • Marcos lab: Optical vision correction
  • McGregor lab: Optogenetic vision restoration and the physiology of the fovea
  • Merigan lab: In vivo adaptive optics imaging of the retina
  • Poletti/Rucci lab: Impairments in eye movements, attentional control, and active vision
  • Schallek lab: Imaging blood flow in the living eye
  • Silverstein lab: Retinal biomarkers of brain structure and function in schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric disorders
  • Singh lab: Cellular and molecular mechanisms of retinal and neurodegenerative diseases
  • Tadin lab: Vision in special populations
  • Telias lab: Retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration, photoablation
  • Woeller lab: Understanding the key molecular and cellular pathways involved in eye disease, with a particular focus on Thyroid Eye Disease (TED)