Visual processing in fish

Multimillion pound grant awarded to Sussex Neuroscientist to investigate visual processing in fish.

The Plasticity of Visual Circuits project, led by Professor Leon Lagnado, has been awarded a £3 million Investigator Award over six years from the Wellcome Trust to explore how circuits of neurons process visual information.

The project will aim to understand how visual processing is adjusted under different situations, such as a new visual environment or the animals own body clock.

Researchers in the Lagnado Lab will use the funding to build new equipment which will allow them to both watch and manipulate the activities of the neurons of zebrafish as they respond to different visual stimuli.

The researchers will then compare the signals flowing through different parts of the zebrafish brain to further our understanding of computations that underlie vision and to explore how these are implemented by neurons and synapses. By doing this, they ultimately aim to explain how circuits of neurons control how an animal responds to visual information.

Benefits of the research

This research will help us understand how the brain processes visual information, and how animals use this information to adjust their behaviour under different conditions. These processes occur continuously in our own brains.

Written by: Jessica Gowers