Summary:

We are also investigating synaptic competition and circuit wiring in the developing mouse visual system. This project is conducted as a joint project between Erik Ullian and Grae Davis' laboratories, combining tools and expertise from both groups to study circuits at a molecular and functional level. We use a combination of genetic, optical and electrophysiological techniques to perturb and study cells which are in competition for synaptic territory in the visual thalamus. Our aim is to uncover the rules governing the wiring of this synapse, in the hopes that these rules will generalize to other brain regions where inputs must compete for their proper postsynaptic targets.