Research

Visual deprivation is a classic paradigm for studying how transient disruptions to sensory experience can drive long-term plasticity in the brain. We investigate how the quality of visual experience differentially impacts activity statistics in the visual thalamus and cortex, and design tools to probe causal relationships between altered activity statistics and long-term plasticity.

With any perturbation to activity or experience, the probability that a neural circuit will undergo plasticity is state-dependent. For instance, the capacity for plasticity tends to decline with age, lending support to the concept of critical periods. We develop neural interfaces and control architectures for precisely regulating spiking to create activity states that support plasticity at the cellular, synaptic, and circuit levels.

Amblyopia is a widespread neurodevelopmental visual impairment that arises from maladaptive plasticity during infancy or early childhood. We aim to develop novel therapeutics for amblyopia that leverage our knowledge of plasticity at different ages and disease severities. Treatment strategies range from neuroprosthetic implants that directly stimulate the brain to minimally invasive manipulations to visual experience or behavior.