Faculty in Biology

Bob Chow, Assistant Professor bobchow@uvic.ca Office: CUNN 259c Office Phone: 250-472-5658 Lab: CUNN 264/268 Lab Phone: 250-472-5660 Teaching: Ecological Methodology.

Lab Homepage

Immunolabelling of the developing mouse eye.       Photo credit: Min Zhu.

Research Interests:
Developmental biology, neurobiology, molecular genetics, retina

Our lab is interested in the developmental biology of the vertebrate retina. The retina is an exquisitely organized, paper-thin sensory neuronal tissue that lines the back of the eye and is the site at which visual signaling is initiated. Although the retina is a relatively simple tissue in terms of its organization and neuronal classes, it is marked by a high degree of cellular complexity and contains at least 55 morphologically distinct neuronal cell types.

What controls the formation of the different types of cells in the retina and how do these cell types contribute to vision? Understanding the molecular mechanisms that underlie retinal cell fate specification and differentiation, and how the complex neuronal circuitry of the retina is generated represents a major focus of the research in the lab. To address these and others aspects of retinal development and disease, both in vivo (transgenics and gene targeting) and in vitro (electroporation) approaches are being used to manipulate gene expression in the developing and mature mouse retina. One of the ultimate goals of this research is that it will provide the understanding necessary for the design of molecular screening tools, therapies and cures of heritable vision defects.