Kai Lun Teh

Computational/visual neuroscience PhD student. Interested in self-organization, emergent phenomena, and autonomous intelligent systems.

[Kai Lun Teh @kailun_teh]

@bccn_berlin Thanks!

[Kai Lun Teh @kailun_teh]

@sejdevries Thanks Saskia!

[Kai Lun Teh @kailun_teh]

Do spontaneous retinal waves play a role in establishing higher visual functions in the brain? Our new modeling study in @ScienceAdvances suggests that yes, retinal waves could establish an orientation map observed in the mouse superior colliculus (SC)
1/6 https://t.co/h5hd08BYiJ

[Kai Lun Teh @kailun_teh]

@KordingLab @KremkowL @JeremieSibille @gehrcaro Also the SC map was discovered relatively recently and is qualitatively different from the V1 map. Hence, most mechanisms proposed for the V1 map development might not be suitable in explaining the SC map.

[Kai Lun Teh @kailun_teh]

@KordingLab @KremkowL @JeremieSibille @gehrcaro Our model emphasizes on both the local (how waves shape the RF) and global (how waves organize the map) effects of the retinal wave statistics, and showed that it's possible for the SC map to arise purely from the feedforward RGC projections developed with retinal waves.

[Kai Lun Teh @kailun_teh]

@KordingLab @KremkowL @JeremieSibille @gehrcaro Thanks for pointing to the paper! Yes, retinal wave statistics have been proposed for the emergence of simple RFs in the V1, as well as other V1 map properties, e.g. long-range connections: https://t.co/FKG4fKIaNx.

[Kai Lun Teh @kailun_teh]

Please check out our paper for more details. It’s a pleasure to work on this project together with @KremkowL, @JeremieSibille, and @gehrcaro.
6/6

[Kai Lun Teh @kailun_teh]

In summary, our model implies a more direct correlation between the retinal development and the adult SC functional organization than previously thought. This opens the question of whether similar mechanisms are also at play in other sensory pathways.
5/6