Institut de la Vision

Team of Alain Chedotal

Development, evolution and function on commissural systems

The team is studying how axonal guidance molecules regulate cellular interactions during visual system development and in eye diseases. It also investigates the function and evolution of commissural projections.

Team of Olivier Goureau

Retinal development and repair: use of pluripotent stem cells

The team is developing cell therapy approaches using transplantation of retinal cells derived from pluripotent stem cells. Its objective is to offer a therapeutic alternative for the treatment of degenerative retinal diseases characterized by a loss of photoreceptors and retinal pigment epithelial cells.

Team of Filippo Del Bene

Development and function of the vertebrate visual system

The team investigates the development and activity of neural circuits in the visual system using the zebrafish model. Understanding the development and function of neural circuits in an intact animal is indeed a major objective of modern neurosciences. The team focuses its analysis on retinal ganglion cells, the cells that connect the retina to the brain, and on the main visual brainl area of the zebrafish brain, the optical tectum.

Team of Jean Livet

Neurogenesis and circuit development

The team is interested in understanding how the cells that make up the neural circuits of the retina and brain are generated, differentiated and interconnected during the development process. In these analyses, the team uses new methodologies such as the BrainBow technology to track the lineage and connectivity of neural cells in intact nerve tissue.

Team of Xavier Nicol

Mechanisms of sensory map development

The team is interested in understanding how the cells that make up the neural circuits of the retina and brain are generated, differentiated and interconnected during the development process. In these analyses, the team uses new methodologies such as the BrainBow technology to track the lineage and connectivity of neural cells in intact nerve tissue.

Team of Thierry Léveillard

Metabolic and redox signaling of the nucleoredoxin-like-1 gene for the treatment of rod-cone dystrophies

The team is exploring the molecular mechanisms responsible for interactions between rod and cone photoreceptors to develop new therapeutic strategies for inherited retinal diseases.

Team of Isabelle Audo and Christina Zeitz

Identification of gene defects leading to non-progressive and progressive ocular diseases

The team studies large cohorts of patients in order to identify the genetic defects responsible for different forms of inherited retinal diseases to develop innovative gene therapies.

Team of Olivier Marre

Visual information processing: neural coding and vision restoration

The team is investigating the transmission of visual information in normal and pathological conditions. It also develops and tests new therapeutic strategies to prevent vision loss and restore vision in blind patients.

Team of Jens Dübel

Neurophysiology and optogenetic applications in the retina

The team studies the structure and function of neural microcircuits in the retina and it develops optogenetic strategies to restore visual function in retinal degeneration.

Team of Serge Charpak

Imaging of sensory processing and neurovascular coupling

The team is exploring how interactions between neurons and non-neural cells modulate brain activity and how this modulation contributes to signals used in functional imaging of the human brain.

Team of Romain Brette

Computational neuroscience of sensory systems

The team develops computational models of sensory systems, which link physiological (neural properties) and behavioral levels.

Team of Angelo Arleo.

Aging in Vision and Action

The team is interested in the underlying processes involved in healthy visual aging.  It analyses the factors responsible for the progressive modification of the neurophysiological, perceptual and cognitive aspects of vision. It studies the ageing of vision function in a synergistic context that allows to link the advances made in fundamental research to the transfer of innovative technologies.

Team of Annabelle Réaux-Le Goazigo

Pathophysiology of the anterior segment of the eye

The team investigates the physiopathology of the eye anterior segment, with special interest in glaucoma, dry eye disease, and ocular pain. It also examines the role of chemokines which could be involved in the mechanisms of these diseases and act as biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets.

Team of Florian Sennlaub and Michel Paques

Inflammation and immunology in retinal pathologies

The team is studying the characterization of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and ischemic proliferative retinopathies with a special focus on the inflammatory mechanisms that lead to neuronal degeneration and vascular remodeling.

Team of Emeline Nandrot

Physiology of the retinal pigment epithelium and associated pathologies

The team explores the different roles of retinal pigment epithelium cells in the global homeostasis of the retina. Research projects include the characterization of the rhythmic elimination of external segments of aged photoreceptors by phagocytosis and its regulation at the molecular level, as well as the identification of the molecular mechanisms involved in pathological conditions such as rod-cone dystrophies, retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration.

Team of Deniz Dalkara

Gene therapies and animal models for neurodegenerative diseases

The team is examining various gene delivery approaches to develop effective gene-based therapies for retinal degenerative diseases and to create animal models of human diseases that accurately mimic the molecular mechanisms of the disease.

Team of Valentina Emiliani

Wavefront Engineering Microscopy

The team consists of an interdisciplinary group with complementary knowledge in non-linear optics, multiphoton imaging, spatial light modulator technology, neurophysiology, electrophysiology and in vivo imaging. The group is dedicated to the development and use of advanced optical methods for the study of neural circuits. In particular, the group pioneered the use of wavefront engineering in neuroscience and demonstrated a number of new techniques based on computer-generated holography, generalized phase contrast and temporal focusing enabling effective photoactivation of cage compounds and optogenetic molecules.

Team of Gilles Tessier

3D Microscopy

The team is studying different photonic techniques including digital heterodyne holography. Applied to the detection of nanoparticles, these 3D techniques allow the use of super localization: although optical microscopes are limited by diffraction to spatial resolutions in the micrometer range, the team has shown that the position of individual objects can be determined with much better accuracy, in the order of a few nanometers only. The team has developed several microscopes capable of tracking the random (Brownian) motion of these particles in real time and in 3D allowing the characterization of the particle itself or of its surrounding.