Varsha Jain

The paper measures glutamate input kinetics in retinal starburst amacrine cells and shows that proximal dendrites have higher vesicle release rates, supporting a space-time wiring model for direction selectivity.

The paper identifies glycinergic narrow field amacrine cells as a dominant inhibitory source for retinal ON starburst amacrine cells, revealing their role in modulating direction selectivity through ultra-slow glycine receptors.

The paper investigates the subcellular organization of excitation and inhibition in retinal direction-selective ganglion cells using imaging and genetic methods, showing direction selectivity emerges in small dendritic segments with homogenous encoding.

The paper shows that direction selectivity in retinal ganglion cells persists even when starburst amacrine cell responses are non-directional, revealing an alternative mechanism based on temporal asymmetries in excitation and inhibition.