Alan Litke is physicist who is also interested in neurobiology. Several years ago, Litke began to utilize principles from his research on detection of particles in high-energy-physics collisions in order to develop electrode arrays that can be used to detect signals from the individual output neurons of live retinal tissue. Litke and neurobiologist E. J. Chichilnisky from the Salk Institute used this technology to discover a type of retinal cell that may help monkeys, apes, and humans see motion.
Summary
Published articles Show More
Changes in physiological properties of rat ganglion cells during retinal degeneration.
Published in Journal of Neurophysiology
Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a leading cause of degenerative vision loss, yet its progressive effects on visual signals transmitted from the retina to the brain are not well understood. The transgenic P23H rat is a valuable model of human autosomal dominant RP, exhibiting extensive similarities to the human disease pathology, time course, and elect...
A wireless multi-channel neural amplifier for freely moving animals.
...Published in Nature Neuroscience
Conventional neural recording systems restrict behavioral experiments to a flat indoor environment compatible with the cable that tethers the subject to recording instruments. To overcome these constraints, we developed a wireless multi-channel system for recording neural signals from rats. The device takes up to 64 voltage signals from implanted e...
High-sensitivity rod photoreceptor input to the blue-yellow color opponent pathway in macaque retina.
Published in Nature Neuroscience
Small bistratified cells (SBCs) in the primate retina carry a major blue-yellow opponent signal to the brain. We found that SBCs also carry signals from rod photoreceptors, with the same sign as S cone input. SBCs exhibited robust responses under low scotopic conditions. Physiological and anatomical experiments indicated that this rod input arose f...