A MODELLING APPROACH TO THE INFLUENCE OF CELLULAR GEOMETRY AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF MEMBRANE CHANNELS ONTO NEURONAL INTEGRATION

• Grant number: 15/04828-9
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Start date: September 09, 2015
• End date: September 16, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Physiological Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Christina Joselevitch
• Grantee: Christina Joselevitch
• Visiting researcher: Robert Gilpin Smith
• Visiting researcher institution: University of Pennsylvania, United States
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 10/16469-0 - Vision and cellular communication in the retina: the role of mixed-input bipolar cells, AP.JP

Abstract

Robert Gilpin Smith is Professor of the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA). With extensive experience in the study of cellular communication in the retina, he has dedicated for over three decades to the study of synaptic communication in the nervous system, using the visual system as a model. In his laboratory and in collaboration with other groups, he performs experiments with bipolar cells, amacrine and retinal ganglion and incorporates these results into mathematical models that aim to elucidate the mechanisms underlying synaptic transmission, neuronal integration of signals and direction selectivity in the retina. His line of research coincides with the one I am currently establishing at the Psychology Institute of the University of São Paulo with the support of FAPESP (Young Researchers in Emerging Centers, Process 2010 / 16469-0), which focuses on the physiology of cell communication in the retina. Given this intersection of interests, the coming of Robert Gilpin Smith to Sao Paulo aims to discuss concrete plans for collaboration in studying the integration of rods signals by retinal bipolar cells, and characterizes a unique opportunity for graduate students at the University of São Paulo, for Professor Smith will be offering the course "PSE5891-Strategies Retinal Visual Coding" through the graduate programs in Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience and Behavior. Finally, Professor Smith will participate as a speaker during the full XXX Annual Meeting of FeSBE, when he will present his work on the processing of information by retinal neurons. (AU)