More than 20 areas in the human brain process visual information...
But we do not know very much about how those areas develop and change across the lifespan
Keeps reading to see...
What we study.
Our current projects.
How to join the lab.
Our publications.

My lab studies the developing brain

  • We use a library of rare & valuable postmortem tissue samples from the human brain 
  • and a collection of animal models
  • to study development and plasticity in the visual areas of the brain

We study how normal and abnormal visual experience affect developing synapses and mechanisms that control plasticity in the brain.

We use cellular and molecular tools to measure the expression of neural proteins, especially proteins involved in neuroplasticity, and we quantify how synaptic and non-synaptic proteins change across the lifespan and after different types of visual experience.

Human Brain Development

We found that development of the human brain is slow and the
visual cortex is not fully mature until about 35 years of age.

Experience & Neuroplasticity

We found that certain synaptic proteins important for regulating neuroplasticity are vulnerable to abnormal visual experience.

Promoting Recovery

We found that that perceptual training and binocular vision can promote recovery of vulnerable neuroplasticity mechanisms.

Join the Visual Neuroscience lab @Mac
for your graduate studies and get involved with our current projects.

Come to work on translation

We are building models to translated synaptic age for cortical areas between animal models and humans.  This is important for translating biologically inspired treatments for a wide range of neural disorders.

Come to study synaptic plasticity

 We are comparing synaptic plasticity mechanisms in different areas of the human brain and in animal models to answer why certain visual behaviours are more or less plasticity.  This is important for finding new treatments for visual disorders.

Come to explore the human brain

We are uncovering new insights into how mechanisms regulating plasticity develop and change in the human brain.  This is important for understanding how the normal brain functions and the potential for recovery from visual, neurological or psychiatric disorders.
Here are the wunderkinds that I've had the pleasure to work with, supervise, mentor and learn from.

THE DETAILS ARE IN OUR PUBLICATIONS

Thank you for visiting the Visual Neuroscience Lab webpage.
Please contact me if you have questions -- Dr Kathryn Murphy
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