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Biography

Neural Engineering for Restoring Vision (NERV) Lab

https://nervlab.bio/

The visual system assembles remarkably precise neural circuits during development, yet it has little capacity to restore those connections after injury or disease. Damage to retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and the optic nerve disrupts communication between the eye and the brain, resulting in permanent vision loss because these neurons cannot regenerate. Our research seeks to understand how communication between the eye and the brain is established during development, disrupted by disease, and restored through regeneration.

Our laboratory develops human stem cell-derived and ex vivo models of the visual system to investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern eye-brain communication. Using these experimentally accessible systems, we study how RGCs differentiate, mature, establish functional connectivity, and respond to injury. We combine stem cell engineering, neuroengineering, and electrophysiology to investigate how neural activity and the local microenvironment shape circuit assembly and repair.

A major focus of our research is rebuilding communication between the eye and the brain through RGC transplantation. We investigate how transplanted neurons survive, integrate into the host retina, extend axons to appropriate brain targets, and establish functional connections capable of restoring visual function. By developing new approaches to measure and promote functional connectivity, our goal is to understand the principles that enable successful circuit reconstruction following neuronal replacement.

Ultimately, we aim to define the principles that govern neural circuit assembly, plasticity, and regeneration and translate these discoveries into therapies that restore vision. More broadly, we hope these studies will provide a framework for promoting functional circuit remodeling and repair throughout the central nervous system.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jrsoucy

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XxACuqUAAAAJ&hl=en