Illuminating the Eye: A macroscopic and microscopic look at how we see

Speaker

Daryl Good, PhD Candidate

Abstract

The eye is one of the most complex and highly specialized organs in the body. Light is focused by a lens and onto the retina at the rear of the eye. The retina contains rod cells that detect light with single photon sensitivity and cone cells which can detect different wavelengths of light. Here I present the structure of the eye on a very broad range of length scales. Starting with the macroscopic structure of the eye and then zooming in to examine the microscopic structure of the retinal tissue as well as the rod and cone cells. Then ending by zooming in to the molecular level to examine the structure of the proteins which absorb photons of light and generate a chemical signal which is turned into a nerve impulse that travels to the brain in a highly ordered manner so as to ultimately be put together and interpreted as a high resolution image.

Further Details

Coffee and donuts will be provided. Make sure to follow the Graduate Seminar Series on Facebook(External Link).