We do not know very much about how the human brain develops and change across the lifespan.
As a result of studying development of the human visual cortex, my students have that ah-ha moment about themselves.
  • They understand that continuing to develop into our 30s is part of healthy brain development.  
  • They realize that the changes they go through reflect molecular changes in their brain.
  • They recognize that studying how the human brain develops is cool and people want to know more about it.
As a result of the studies we do, doors open for my students to pursue careers in academic and non-academic settings.

I'm looking for students who want to make the next significant discovery about the human brain and have it be remembered by everyone.

Who do you know who wants that too?

We study 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 experience affects developing synapses and 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.

Who do you know that is interested in the human brain and wants to do graduate studies in neuroscience?

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 amazing students that I've had the pleasure to work with, supervise, mentor and learn from.  Email me if you are interested in learning more about the research in my lab (kmurphy@mcmaster.ca).  You can also look at our publications listed below.

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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