Brenna Marie Teigler (Krieger)

Dissertation Title:  Predicting the Electrophysiological Responses of Murine Alpha Retinal Ganglion Cells to Artificial and Natural Visual Stimuli

PhD Dissertation Advisor:  Dr. Markus Meister, Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Biology

In the Meister lab, I studied the electrical message the retina sends to the brain to understand the first stage of mouse visual processing. I used electrophysiological methods to record from the output neurons, the retinal ganglion cells, while displaying visual stimuli to the photoreceptors. This allowed me to build a biologically-inspired model to tie the stimulus to the neural response. By accurately predicting the electrical output of the retina with a model, I could thus understand the visual message sent to the brain and provide a tool for others studying higher visual brain areas.

I am interested in science policy and outreach. Throughout my Ph.D. I participated in various events including the Science in the News public lecture series, Harvard Law School negotiation workshop, AAAS Annual Meeting symposia (Boston 2013) and Cambridge School Volunteers Science Olympiad at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School.