Alex Calzoni

To interact with the environment, animals must be able to process sensory information and initiate suitable responses. The superior colliculus is a central node in the mammalian visual system that mediates a set of defensive and orienting behaviors. My goal is to understand how individual collicular cell types encode and disseminate visual information to guide these innate behaviors.

To accomplish this, I aim to determine the response properties of genetically identified neurons to salient visual stimuli across the visual field, their connectivity, and direct effect on behavior by using a combination of electrophysiological and imaging techniques, viral tracing systems, optogenetics, and different behavioral setups.