Puthussery & Taylor Labs

Laura wins poster prize at FASEB meeting

(June 2024) Laura presented her research on cell replacement therapy for the treatment of retinal degenerations. Great job Laura! And congrats to Beatrice and Natalie who also gave great presentations at the meeting!

Daniel, Cyrus and Laura pass their qualifying exams!

(May 2024) Great to see your hard work pay off!

Welcome to Beatice Le

(Jan 2024) Beatrice will work in the Taylor lab on novel optogenetic approaches to vision restoration. She is co-mentored with Prof. John Flannery.

Anna’s paper on primate direction-selective ganglion cells is out in Nature!!

(Oct 2023) Our findings suggest that the retinal circuits that help stabilize our view of the world are highly conserved between lower mammals and higher species. Congratulations to everyone in the lab who contributed to this study!! It was a massive team effort! More details here.

New paper about AMPA receptor auxiliary proteins in the retina

(Aug 2023) AMPA receptors are important for neurotransmission at a number of retinal synapses. In this paper, we show that the AMPA receptor auxiliary protein, stargazin, is expressed at retinal synapses and is important for normal AMPA receptor expression and function. Check it out here

New graduate students

(Aug 2023) Natalie Bernstein has joined the lab! And welcome to new rotation student Beatrice Le.

Welcome to new graduate students!

(June 2023) Cyrus, Laura and Daniel (Vision Science program) have joined the lab! And welcome to new rotation student Natalie Bernstein (Neuro grad program)

New article about retinal degeneration research in the Puthussery Lab

(Feb 2023) Thanks to Janet Wells for writing this story!

Teresa gives a talk in the WorldWideNeuro seminar series

(Feb 2023) Check it out here

Welcome to Laura Patak and Cyrus McHugh

(Feb 2023) Laura and Cyrus are first year student in the vision science graduate program!

New paper published in Cell Reports

(Oct 2022) This paper describes how the rod pathway shapes the response properties of ON vs OFF type RGCs in primate retina.

Welcome to Daniel Frozenfar

(Aug 2022) Daniel is a first year student in the vision science graduate program!

Max has graduated!

(June 2022) Congratulations to Max Hauptschein on graduating with Honors from MCB! Max did an amazing job of his Honors thesis project and we wish him all the best in his new RA position at Stanford.

Yvette accepted into medical school at University of Calgary

(May 2022) So proud of you Yvette! Congratulations!

New paper on vision restoration out in Molecular Therapy

(Nov 2021) This exciting study led by Juliette McGregor, Bill Merigan’s groups at the University of Rochester demonstrates the long-term efficacy of optogenetic vision restoration in a primate model of photoreceptor degeneration. The Puthussery lab showed the structural preservation of the inner retina in treated eyes using histological methods. Check out the paper here.

New NEI Audacious Goals Grant for Puthussery Lab

(Nov 2021) We are excited to announce funding for a collaborative project with Dr Juliette McGregor (U Rochester) and Dr David Gamm (U Wisconsin) to test cell replacement therapies for vision restoration in a novel model of macular degeneration. See the NIH press release here.

New Vision Science PhD Rotation Students

(August 2021) Welcome to our new Vision Science graduate students Matangi Kumar and Leah Johnston.

Welcome to Leah Johnston

(June 2021) Leah has joined the lab as a research assistant for the summer and will join the Vision Science Graduate Program in August. Welcome Leah.

Yvette wins I.L. Chaikoff Memorial Prize for the Division of Neurobiology

(May 2021) Honors thesis student, Yvette Yao, received the I.L. Chaikoff Memorial Prize, which is given in recognition of outstanding achievement and excellence in the Cell & Developmental Biology and Neurobiology emphases. Congratulations Yvette!

Teresa has received a Shaffer Grant from the Glaucoma Research Foundation

(Mar 2021) This study aims to determine whether specific human retinal ganglion cell types are more vulnerable to glaucomatous injury. Thank you to the GRF for supporting our research.

Welcome to new Post-Doc Anna Wang

(Mar 2021) Welcome to new post-doc, Dr Anna Wang. Anna recently completed her PhD in retinal neurobiology at The University of Melbourne and has an interest in understanding retinal ganglion function in health and disease.

Welcome to new PhD rotation students

(Jan 2021) Welcome to Max Greene (Vision Science PhD program) and Miah Pitcher (Neuroscience PhD program) who are rotating in the lab this semester.

Teresa’s NIH R01 has been renewed!

(Dec 2020) We are grateful to the NIH for their continued support of our research program.

Amanda’s paper is out in eNeuro!

(Nov 2020) This paper shows how retinal signals are routed through the retina during night-time vision. Check it out here.

Joe’s paper is out in Cell Reports!

(Nov 2020) Check it out here!

Teresa has received funding through the EyeFind Research Grant Program

(July 2020) This grant will support procurement of human donor eyes for a study aimed at determining whether specific retinal ganglion cells are more vulnerable to injury in glaucoma. We are grateful to the ARVO Foundation and its partners for their support. (July 2020)

Teresa has been awarded a grant from the Hellman Fellows Fund

(June 2020) Thank you to the Hellman Fund for their generous support of our research (June 2020)

Rowland and Joe have a new preprint in collaboration with the Wright Lab at OHSU

(May 2020) This paper details the discovery of an unusual inhibitory amacrine cell that lacks conventional inhibitory neurotransmitters. Check it out on the BioRxiv here!

Amanda has a new preprint on primate rod pathway circuitry

(May 2020) This paper provides evidence that rod signals are routed through specific Off channels in the primate retina.

Manoj awarded renewal of Knights Templar Foundation Career Starter Award!

(April 2020). This grant provides continued support for Manoj’s work on the mechanisms of spontaneous activity in retinal degeneration. Nice work, Manoj!

Teresa and Jacqueline have a new paper in collaboration with the Neuringer Lab at OHSU

(Oct 2019) This paper describes the exciting discovery of a new primate model of inherited retinal degeneration.

Suma gets first offers to medical school

(Aug 2019) Suma gets first of what will likely be one of many offers to medical school. Well done, Suma!

Kimi gets accepted into OHSU Medical School!

(June 2019) Former Puthussery Lab alumnus, Kimi Lerner is accepted into medical school at Oregon Health & Science University. Congratulations Kimi!

Manoj awarded Knights Templar Foundation Career Starter Award!

(June 2019) Manoj’s project will focus on mechanisms of spontaneous activity in inherited retinal degeneration. Well done, Manoj!

Suma wins MCB Neurobiology Prizes!

(May 2019) Suma won the best poster prize in the Neurobiology section for her MCB Undergraduate Honors thesis research. She also was the recipient of the Jeffery A. Winer Memorial Prize and the I.L. Chaikoff Memorial Award in the Division of Neurobiology Graduation. Amazing work, Suma!

Teresa wins campus award for Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs

(May 2019) This award recognizes faculty (including both Senate and non-Senate faculty) who have provided graduate student instructors (GSIs) outstanding mentorship in teaching at Berkeley and in preparing for teaching in future careers.

Rowland has a new paper out in Journal of Neuroscience

(May 2019) The study shows that ON-DSGCs may be critical for providing the visual feedback signals that contribute to stabilizing retinal images, while ONOFF-DSGCs may be important for detecting the onset of saccades or for signaling optical flow. You can check out the paper here.

Amanda accepted into ARVO’s Science Communication Training Fellowship Program

Well done, Amanda! More info here.

Rowland is the new chair of the Vision Science Graduate Program

Rowland will take on this exciting new role for a 5 year term. Congratulations Rowland!

Amanda and Jacqueline’s submit prize-winning microscopy images in 2018 MIC Image Contest.

Great work guys! See the images here.

Jacqueline’s new paper out in Journal of Neuroscience.

This paper identified a type of potassium channel that is important for generating normal electrical responses in human rods and cones. The work helps explain why patients with genetic mutations in certain ion channels develop a blinding cone-rod dystrophy and may ultimately lead to new treatments for these diseases. Well done, Jacqueline!