UR Faculty: David J. Calkins

B.S. (1989) University of Michigan Ph.D. (1994) University of Pennsylvania	David J. Calkins Associate Professor, Departments of Ophthalmology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, and Neurology and the Center for Visual Sciences. Director, DeStephano Laboratory for Retinal Genomics. Director of the Electron Microscopy Imaging Core Facility. Primary Appointment: Ophthalmology GEBS Cluster Affiliations: NS - Neuroscience
Research: Neurochemistry, functional organization and physiology of the primate visual system
Contact Information: E-Mail: calkins@cvs.rochester.edu
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry 601 Elmwood Ave, Box 314 Rochester, New York 14642

Research Overview

My laboratory focuses on two independent avenues of research. The first pursues the genetic, molecular and synaptic organization of neuronal circuits in the primate visual system and how neurochemical expression limits the performance of these circuits in visual perception. This program has evolved from the central tenet that visual perception is most efficiently served by multiple, specialized pathways from the retina to the cortex devoted to minimizing redundancy and maximizing sensitivity to specific aspects of visual information. Our strategy combines electrophysiological recordings with single-cell RT-PCR in an in vitro slice preparation, in situ hybridization and immunocytochemistry with quantitative light and electron microscopy. A recent concentration in these studies is the expression of glutamate receptors and the intracellular molecules that modulate them in particular neuronal types in the primate retina. The second avenue focuses on the genes and molecules that modulate neuronal function and neuronal-glial interactions in neuro-degenerative disorders of the brain and cranial nerves. One project involves characterizing cell-signaling molecules that underlie inflammatory responses in the neocortex of transgenic mouse models of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses. Our goal is to isolate molecular events that may be common to the neurochemical cascades that lead to neuronal cell death and loss of CNS function.

Recent Publications

Pasternak, T, Bisley, J.& . Calkins, D.J. (2003) Visual processing in the primate brain. In Handbook of Psychology, Volume 3, Biological Psychology (M. Gallagher & R. Nelson, ed.), John Wiley and Sons.

Calkins, D.J. (2003) Linking Retinal Circuits to Color Opponency. In The Visual Neurosciences, (Leo M. Chalupa & J. Werner, eds.), MIT Press.
Calkins, D.J. & Hanna, M.C. (2002) Genomics of identified neuronal cell types in primate retina. Exp. Eye Res. 72, suppl. 2.

Harvey, D.M & Calkins, D.J. (2002) Localization of kainate receptors to the presynaptic active zone of the rod photoreceptor in primate retina. (Vis. Neurosci., in press).

Yao, P.J., Coleman, P.D. & Calkins, D.J. (2002) High-resolution localization of clathrin assembly protein AP180 in the presynaptic terminals of mammalian neurons. (J. Comp. Neurol., 447, pp: 152-162.).

Calkins, D.J. (2001) Seeing with S cones. Prog. Retinal and Eye Research, 20, pp. 255-287.Neuron, 24, pp. 313-321.

Calkins, D.J. (2000) The representation of cone signals in the primate retina. Journal of the Optical Society of America B., 17, pp. 597-606.

Calkins, D.J. & Sterling, P. (1999) Evidence that circuits for spatial and opponent color vision segregate at the first retinal synapse. Neuron, 24, pp. 313-321.

Hendry, S.H.C. & Calkins, D.J. (1998) Neuronal chemistry and functional organization in primate visual system. Trends in Neuroscience, 21, pp. 344-349.

Calkins, D.J., Tsukamoto, Y. & Sterling, P. (1998) Microcircuitry and mosaic of a blue/yellow ganglion cell in the primate retina. Journal of Neuroscience, 18, pp. 3373-3385

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