The vertebrate retina is an accessible part of the central nervous system; an understanding of neuronal interactions occurring within the retina may provide clues concerning neural mechanisms throughout the brain. The interest of our group is how visual information is processed by the retina.
The major thrust of the laboratory at present is retinal and early eye development. We are breeding zebrafish in the laboratory and are studying the effects of genetic mutations on retinal structure, function, and development.
Selected Publications:
Brockerhoff, S.E., Hurley, J.B., Niemi, G.A. and Dowling, J.E. (1997). A new form of inherited red-blindness in zebrafish J. Neurosci., 17:4236-4242.
Li, L., and Dowling, J.E. (1997). A dominant form of inherited retinal degeneration caused by a non-photoreceptor cell-specific mutation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 94:11645-11650.
Fadool, J.M., Hartl, D.L. and Dowling, J.E. (1998). Transposition of
the mariner element Drosophila mauritiana in zebrafish. Proc. Natl. Acad.
Sci. 95:5182-5186.