1. Course Title
Visual Neuroscience: From photons to perception
2. Scientific Area
Neuroscience
3. Duration and Dates
5 days - 9 – 13 February 2009
Topics
Retinal function and mechanisms of disease
Early visual cortical function
High level cortical processing
4. Organizers
Miguel Castelo-Branco
Visual Neuroscience Laboratory
Center of Ophthalmology, IBILI
Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra
3004-548 Coimbra
Portugal
Phone +351 239480261
Fax +351 239480280
mcbranco@ibili.uc.pt
António Francisco Ambrósio
Retinal Dysfunction Group
Center of Ophthalmology, IBILI
Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra
3004-548 Coimbra
Portugal
Phone: +351239480222
Fax: +351239480280
fambrosio@ibili.uc.pt
5. Invited Lecturers
Serge Picaud
INSERM U-592, Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris6, Laboratoire de Physiopathologie Cellulaire et Moleculaire de la Retine, F-75571 Paris
France.
serge.picaud@st-antoine.inserm.fr
Beatrice de Gelder,
Room P 511, Postbus 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Tel. (013) 466 2167
E-mail:
b.degelder@uvt.nl
Sergio Neuenschwander
Max Planck Institute for Brain Research
Deutschordenstraße 46
D-60528 Frankfurt/Main
Tel.: +49(0)6996769-229/231
Fax: +49(0)6996769-327
neuenschwand@mpih-frankfurt.mpg.de
6. Program
Main goals of the course
- To grasp the principles of functional brain organization based on visual pathways as model systems.
- To understand visual function from the retina to the cortical level.
- To understand multimodal sensory integration.
Day 1
Monday 9th February
Morning
9:15 – 9:30 Introductory notes
Miguel Castelo-Branco and Francisco Ambrósio
9:30 – 11:00- Lecture 1
The retina: understanding the puzzle.
Francisco Ambrósio
11:30 – 13:00- Lecture 2
Basic principles of organization of the visual system: from the retina to the cortex.
Miguel Castelo-Branco
Afternoon
14:30 – 15:30
Monitoring activity in neural circuits using simultaneous recordings from multiple cells: basic principles and methods
Sergio Neuenschwander
15:30
Challenges in choosing a lab and a PhD project within the scope of a Doctoral Program
Discussion with Faculty members
Day 2
Tuesday 10th February
Morning
9:15 – 10:15 - Lecture 1
Photoreceptor degenerations: From single cell and multielectrode recordings of retinal cells to therapeutic strategies.
Serge Picaud
10:15 – 11:15 - Lecture 2
Diabetic retinopathy: beyond microvascular dysfunction.
Francisco Ambrósio
11:45 – 12:45 - Lecture 3
Does GABA excitatory transmission in the adult retina contribute to retinal pathophysiology?
Serge Picaud
Afternoon
14:30 – 16:30
Chairpersons – Serge Picaud and Francisco Ambrósio
Paper presentations and discussion (2 papers - References from Francisco Ambrósio and Serge Picaud)
Day 3
Wednesday 11th February
Morning
9:15 – 10:30 - Lecture 1
Retinal imaging in vivo with DARC (detection of apoptosing retinal cells).
Francesca Cordeiro
11:00 – 12:30 - Lecture 2
Structure-Function relationships in the visual system.
Miguel Castelo-Branco
Afternoon
14:30 – 15:30 - Lecture 3
Alzheimer disease and retinal neurodegeneration.
Francesca Cordeiro
15:30 – 16:30
Chairpersons – Miguel Castelo-Branco and Francesca Cordeiro
Paper presentation and discussion (2 papers - Reference from Miguel Castelo-Branco and Francesca Cordeiro)
Day 4
Thursday 12th February
Morning
9:15 – 10:15 - Lecture 1
Neurophysiological approaches to study brain function.
Peter de Weerd
10:30 – 11:30- Lecture 2
Perceptual and attentional mechanisms in the primate brain.
Sergio Neuenschwander
12:00 – 13:00 – Lecture 3
Perceptual filling-in: More than the eye can see.
Peter de Weerd
Afternoon
14:30 – 15:30 – Lecture 4
Face recognition and its deficits.
Beatrice de Gelder
15:30 – 16:30
Chairperson – Sergio Neuenschwander
Paper presentations and discussion (1 paper - Reference from Sergio Neuenschwander)
Day 5
Friday, 13th February
Morning
9:15 – 12:00
Chairpersons – Beatrice de Gelder and Peter de Weerd
Paper presentations and discussion (2 papers - References from Beatrice de Gelder and Peter de Weerd)
Afternoon
16:00 – Seminar
Multisensory perception and the interaction between auditory and visual processes.
Beatrice de Gelder
7. Relevant Publications of the Invited Lecturers
Serge Picaud
Jammoul F*, Wang Q*, Nabbout R, Coriat C, Duboc A, Simonutti M, Dubus E, Craft C M, Ye W, Collins S D, Dulac O, Chiron C, Sahel J A, Picaud S.
Taurine deficiency is a cause of vigabatrin-induced retinal phototoxicity. Annals of Neurology (in press)
Francesca Cordeiro
Guo L, Salt TE, Luong V, Wood N, Cheung W, Maass A, Ferrari G, Russo-Marie F, Sillito AM, Cheetham ME, Moss SE, Fitzke FW, Cordeiro MF.
Targeting amyloid-beta in glaucoma treatment. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2007; 104:13444-9.
Cordeiro, MF, Guo L, Luong V, Harding G, Wang W, Jones HE, Moss SE, Sillito AM & Fitzke FW.
Real time imaging of single nerve cell apoptosis in retinal neurodegeneration. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2004; 101:13352-13356.
This paper was awarded the Lewis Rudin Award in Glaucoma ($50,000) by the New York Academy of Medicine for the most scholarly international glaucoma publication for the year.
Beatrice de Gelder
de Gelder, B. (2006). Towards the neurobiology of emotional body language. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 7, (3), 242-249.
de Gelder, B. Meeren, H. K. M., Righart, R., Van den Stock, J. , van de Riet, W. A. C. & and Tamietto, M. (2006) .
Beyond the face: Exploring rapid influences of context on face processing. Progress in Brain Research, 155, 37-48.
Peter de Weerd
Sergio Neuenschwander
Optional reading articles