The Singular Cone Photoreceptors of the Skate Retina
By: Marta M. Ramon Gueva
Department: Cellular & Molecular Biology
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ivan Anastassov
Retinas are complex multicellular structures that allow species to view light rays that get processed to form pictures of the outside world. All species contain three layers of neurons and two areas filled with synaptic connections with specialized unique characteristics. This is also true for the skate, the Elasmobranch L. Erinacea, which is a rod only retina that can develop cone like characteristics under higher levels of illumination. The aim of my work is to study the specialized ganglion cells in the skate to better understand the neural connectivity with its neighboring cells such as the bipolar, horizontal, and rod photoreceptor cells. I plan to use Electron Microscopy (EM) data to reconstruct the ganglion cells in 3D models, use RNA-sequencing, and in situ hybridization to study their genomes. By studying the ganglion cells I can better understand their structure and molecular genes, which we could then compare with mature and developing skate retinas.