Dennis Levi, University of California, Berkeley

Jun-Yun Zhang, Peking University

Betina graduated from University College London with an MSc in Neuroscience. She then obtained a DPhil degree at Oxford, during which she focussed on attentional modulations on binocular vision using non-invasive MR imaging. During her postdoctoral training, she made contributions to understanding how  functional paradigms and neurochemistry via MR Spectroscopy measurements can be exploited to study visual perception. In 2020, Betina was awarded a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowship to establish her own research programme at the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, part of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences. Her research focuses on investigating plasticity in the human binocular visual system in health and disease.

Our reality exists in three-dimensions, and binocular vision enables us to interact with the world with precision. The goal of my research is to better understand the neural basis of binocular vision, from acquisition to perception.

My research focuses on two core questions:

(1)  What are the neural mechanisms supporting binocular vision, in particular stereoscopic depth perception?

(2)  What signals regulate the acquisition of binocular vision through experience?

To answer these questions, my group specializes in combining behavioural psychophysics with non-invasive imaging of brain function, in particular measures of neurochemistry using novel magnetic resonance spectroscopy techniques. These signals give us rich information about the state of the brain during vision and learning.

There are strong reasons for why this research is relevant: impaired binocular vision due to amblyopia, also known as ‘lazy eye’, is the most common visual problem in children. It can lead to a lifetime of impaired vision. If we can understand how the brain combines images from two eyes, then we can  use this knowledge to help people with visual problems see better.