Prof King-Wai Yau from Johns Hopkins University describes the mechanisms by which light is detected and signaled for both image and non-image vision by the retina.
Light is detected by the retina for both image and non-image vision. Image vision refers to the conventional eyesight by which objects are detected and recognized, their motions are tracked, etc. Non-image vision refers to the subconscious detection of ambient light that allows the brain to synchronize the circadian clock in the animal’s body with the ambient light/dark cycle, and to activate other subconscious responses such as the pupillary light reflex. This lecture will describe the mechanisms by which light is detected and signaled for both types of vision.
About the Speaker
King-Wai Yau was born in Guangzhou and grew up in Hong Kong. He received an AB in physics from Princeton University in 1971 and a PhD in neurobiology from Harvard University in 1975. He did postdoctoral work with Denis Baylor at Stanford University and with Nobel Laureate Sir Alan Hodgkin at Cambridge University. From 1980-86, he was on the faculty at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, rising to Professor of Physiology and Biophysics in 1985. Since 1986, he has been Professor of Neuroscience and of Ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He was an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (1986-2004).
Prof Yau’s research interests lie in photoreception in the retina and olfactory reception in the nose. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
