Colloquium: Neural mechanisms underlying visual plasticity in health and disease, during development and in adulthood

20 March 2023

Colloquium by Prof. Dr. Miguel Castelo-Branco, University of Coimbra, Portugal

Abstract: Our research program focuses on the interplay between low and high-level visual mechanisms and their impact on neural plasticity. We show for the first time evidence for adult visual plasticity in a genetically determined disorder of peripheral vision, Retinitis Pigmentosa. This follows another study where we show how the brain reorganizes due to genetically determined subclinical axonal ganglion cell loss. We demonstrated that a retinal trigger (axonal oedema) at the level of the retinal ganglion cell may lead to visual cortical reorganization. Concerning changes in visual experience in adulthood, we discovered how the brain adapts to the visual dysphotopsia caused by the new visual environment imposed by multifocal intraocular lenses. Finally, we address molecular mechanisms of plasticity underlying effects of rehabilitation techniques, boosting neural plasticity, in neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, such as neural stimulation of brain regions involved in visual attention.

Further information about the speakers can be found here:
https://scholar.google.pt/citations?user=9yXxShAAAAAJ&hl=pt-PT

Date and time: 20.03.2023 17:00-18:30, UKE campus, N55, room 310/311