The Vision Group

01865 610482
holly.bridge@ndcn.ox.ac.uk

We use brain imaging techniques to investigate the human visual system, both in its normal state and in disease and disorder.

Using MR spectroscopy to measure inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA in the visual cortex. Depriving one eye of vision leads to both a change in eye dominance and GAB concentration.

The Vision Group at FMRIB uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look at the structure, function and connectivity of the human visual system. We are interested in the functioning of the visual system in its ‘normal’ state in sighted individuals, and the changes that occur in people who have disorders of the visual system such as visual impairment or binocular dysfunction and the effects of damage or disease. We use multi-modal MRI, including structural, functional and diffusion MRI and magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the human brain to investigate the relationship with visual function.

One aspect of our research involves investigating how the brain determines the function of a specific region of the brain. In the case of blind subjects who are anophthalmic, in whom the eyes never developed, we are interested in how the visual pathway is recruited by other neural functions. For those who lose visual function later in life, through trauma or a stroke (hemianopia), we have several projects designed to understand the residual function and any re-organisation that occurs to minimise visual deficits in adults. We are also researching mechanisms of experience dependent plasticity in children with amblyopia.

Current research includes

Binocular vision dysfunction – how does amblyopia affect the mature and developing brain? Researcher/s: Juju Fars, Rebecca Willis, Megan Groombridge

Hemianopia – how does stroke to the occipital cortex change vision and how can we improve residual vision? Researcher/s: Hanna Willis, Rebecca Truby-Millington