Eye, Brain, Vision
Course Description
The Brain is one of the most extraordinary biological computational machines imaginable. This IntroSem will explore its inner workings viewed through the lens of the mammalian visual system, one of the most studied and well understood systems in the brain crucial for guiding perception and behavior. Topics to be covered include how rods and cones in the retina generate a neural signal, the connections and computations between eye, primary visual cortex and higher order visual areas that function in pattern vision, motion detection, color vision and even perception of faces. The challenges of studying and understanding such a complex system will also be considered in the context of learning about methods for studying the functioning of hundreds of neurons in brain circuits simultaneously. An additional topic to be explored is how this extraordinary computational machine is assembled during neural development and then remodeled by visual experience during critical periods of development: the nature-nurture question. Finally, we will consider how this detailed knowledge may be used for treating blindness and other visual disorders. The course will involve critical readings from relevant background material and original research articles as well as discussions and student presentations, augmented occasionally with guest lecturers and lab visits. A goal of the seminar is to convey the beauty and elegance of the visual system, as well as to introduce fundamentals of organization and function that can be generalized to other brain regions.
Meet the Instructor: Carla Shatz
“I'm a Professor of Biology and Neurobiology and a neuroscientist who has devoted my entire career to understanding the dynamic interplay between genes and environment that shapes brain circuits—the very essence of our being. When I started my academic career, I majored in chemistry and my dual love of art and science led me to study the visual system. The research my lab has conducted over the years on how visual connections form during development have revealed surprising molecules and mechanisms that turn out to have relevance not only for understanding developmental brain disorders but also to neurodegenerative disorders of aging. For many years I served as the Director of Bio-X, Stanford's pioneering interdisciplinary biosciences program. It was a wonderful honor and special opportunity to help catalyze the extraordinary diversity of interdisciplinary research themes across the university. I have had the honor of teaching and leading at Stanford, University of California Berkeley and at Harvard Medical School, where I was the first woman to Chair the Department of Neurobiology. I look forward to sharing my love of neuroscience and the visual system in this seminar.”
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