Research Groups

Molecular Biology of Retinal Synapses
A main issue in the neurosciences concerns the mechanisms underlying the exchange of information between neurons. Communication among neurons is achieved via defined contacts, the synapses. Chemical synapses belong to the most important and interesting structures in the nervous system and are the focus of our research.

Cellular Physiology of the Retina
The vertebrate retina is a highly elaborate neural network specialized to extract meaningful visual information from the rain of photons falling on our eyes. Information processing takes place in several parallel pathways constructed by retinal neurons, each equipped with a unique set of transmembrane and intracellular signaling proteins. We are interested in how these neurons and their respective proteome integrate into the retinal network to accomplish the apparent effortless decomposition of the visual image.

Retinal Physiology
To study the function and the functional integrity of the retina, non-invasive electrophysiological techniques can be used. We use these techniques to study visual processing in the healthy and diseased retina in human observers and animals.