Rate My Professor Leon Lagnado

Lagnado's research examines neural circuits processing sensory information, emphasizing synapses in vision and mechanosensation. Key themes include synapses functioning as machines, their role in shaping visual signals in the retina and visual cortex, network adaptation mechanisms, inhibitory interneurons in computations such as motion anticipation, neuromodulator effects on synaptic function, and behavioural state influences on sensory processing. His lab uses zebrafish and mice, employing multiphoton microscopy, single-plane illumination microscopy, optogenetics, and computational approaches. He pioneered techniques for observing synaptic populations in the intact brain, advancing optophysiology and understanding of retinal circuit plasticity. Key publications include 'An amplitude code transmits information at a visual synapse' (James et al., Nature Neuroscience, 2019), 'A Retinal Circuit Generating a Dynamic Predictive Code for Oriented Features' (Johnston et al., Neuron, 2019), 'Ribbon synapses and visual processing in the retina' (Lagnado and Schmitz, Annual Review of Vision Science, 2015), and 'General features of the retinal connectome determine the computation of motion anticipation' (Johnston and Lagnado, eLife, 2015). Awards include the Wellcome Prize in Physiology (1998), Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award, and election as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2014).