Glen Prusky, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Professor of Physiology and Biophysics

914-597-2500, 212-746-6259
Lab website: https://www.burke.org/

Research Areas

Member of:

Research Summary:

Our lab focuses on understanding the nature of adaptive change in the nervous system. We use the rodent visual system as our primary model, and combine cellular, electrophysiological, and theoretical methodologies, with measures of behaviour in freely-moving animals.

One research stream is aimed at understanding the mechanisms underlying experience-dependent plasticity of vision. Typically, we test hypotheses by altering visual experience in a specific way, and then measuring the effects on visual function in animals with cellular perturbations. Currently, we are manipulating the function of the retina and visual cortex to establish the substrates underlying novel forms of developmental and adult visual plasticity.

Another stream focuses on developing treatments for retinal degenerative disease. We have utilized proactive cell-based retinal transplantation methods that circumvent immune system barriers, to limit the loss of vision in animals with retinal mutations that lead to the loss of vision. We hare currently testing the hypothesis that the expressivity of a retinal mutation and the efficacy of preventive therapies is modulated by retinal plasticity and visual experience.

We are also involved in the development of rehabilitative strategies for stroke. We have developed rodent models of cortical stroke, and manipulate post-stroke stroke experience to facilitate recovery. At present, we are focussing on individualized pre-stroke experience as a causal factor in the manifestation of, and the functional recovery from, a stroke.

Additional projects include investigations of the mechanisms underlying visual discrimination learning, visual recognition memory, cross-modal plasticity, and retinal coding.

Recent Publications:

  1. Farjood, F, Manos, JD, Wang, Y, Williams, AL, Zhao, C, Borden, S et al.. Identifying biomarkers of heterogeneity and transplantation efficacy in retinal pigment epithelial cells. J Exp Med. 2023;220 (12):. doi: 10.1084/jem.20230913. PubMed PMID:37728563 PubMed Central PMC10510736.
  2. Eleftheriou, CG, Corona, C, Khattak, S, Alam, NM, Ivanova, E, Bianchimano, P et al.. Retinoschisin Deficiency Induces Persistent Aberrant Waves of Activity Affecting Neuroglial Signaling in the Retina. J Neurosci. 2022;42 (36):6983-7000. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2128-21.2022. PubMed PMID:35906066 PubMed Central PMC9464019.
  3. Mooney, SWJ, Alam, NM, Prusky, GT. Tracking-Based Interactive Assessment of Saccades, Pursuits, Visual Field, and Contrast Sensitivity in Children With Brain Injury. Front Hum Neurosci. 2021;15 :737409. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.737409. PubMed PMID:34776907 PubMed Central PMC8586078.
  4. Hill, NJ, Mooney, SWJ, Prusky, GT. audiomath: A neuroscientist's sound toolkit. Heliyon. 2021;7 (2):e06236. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06236. PubMed PMID:33615015 PubMed Central PMC7881231.
  5. Mooney, SWJ, Alam, NM, Hill, NJ, Prusky, GT. Gradiate: A radial sweep approach to measuring detailed contrast sensitivity functions from eye movements. J Vis. 2020;20 (13):17. doi: 10.1167/jov.20.13.17. PubMed PMID:33369613 PubMed Central PMC7774112.
  6. Wang, BS, Bernardez Sarria, MS, An, X, He, M, Alam, NM, Prusky, GT et al.. Retinal and Callosal Activity-Dependent Chandelier Cell Elimination Shapes Binocularity in Primary Visual Cortex. Neuron. 2021;109 (3):502-515.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.11.004. PubMed PMID:33290732 PubMed Central PMC7943176.
  7. Picci, C, Wong, VSC, Costa, CJ, McKinnon, MC, Goldberg, DC, Swift, M et al.. HDAC6 inhibition promotes α-tubulin acetylation and ameliorates CMT2A peripheral neuropathy in mice. Exp Neurol. 2020;328 :113281. doi: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2020.113281. PubMed PMID:32147437 .
  8. Hill, NJ, Mooney, SWJ, Ryklin, EB, Prusky, GT. Shady: A software engine for real-time visual stimulus manipulation. J Neurosci Methods. 2019;320 :79-86. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2019.03.020. PubMed PMID:30946876 PubMed Central PMC6524778.
  9. Ivanova, E, Alam, NM, Prusky, GT, Sagdullaev, BT. Blood-retina barrier failure and vision loss in neuron-specific degeneration. JCI Insight. 2019;5 (8):. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.126747. PubMed PMID:30888334 PubMed Central PMC6538333.
  10. Mooney, SWJ, Hill, NJ, Tuzun, MS, Alam, NM, Carmel, JB, Prusky, GT et al.. Curveball: A tool for rapid measurement of contrast sensitivity based on smooth eye movements. J Vis. 2018;18 (12):7. doi: 10.1167/18.12.7. PubMed PMID:30452585 PubMed Central PMC6238984.
  11. Davis, RJ, Alam, NM, Zhao, C, Müller, C, Saini, JS, Blenkinsop, TA et al.. The Developmental Stage of Adult Human Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cells Influences Transplant Efficacy for Vision Rescue. Stem Cell Reports. 2017;9 (1):42-49. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2017.05.016. PubMed PMID:28625537 PubMed Central PMC5511099.
  12. Lazzerini Ospri, L, Prusky, G, Hattar, S. Mood, the Circadian System, and Melanopsin Retinal Ganglion Cells. Annu Rev Neurosci. 2017;40 :539-556. doi: 10.1146/annurev-neuro-072116-031324. PubMed PMID:28525301 PubMed Central PMC5654534.
  13. Benedicto, I, Lehmann, GL, Ginsberg, M, Nolan, DJ, Bareja, R, Elemento, O et al.. Concerted regulation of retinal pigment epithelium basement membrane and barrier function by angiocrine factors. Nat Commun. 2017;8 :15374. doi: 10.1038/ncomms15374. PubMed PMID:28524846 PubMed Central PMC5454459.
  14. Suner, M, Prusky, GT, Carmel, JB, Hill, NJ. Longitudinal Quantification of Eye-Movement Impairments after Pontine Hemorrhage. Front Neurol. 2017;8 :165. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2017.00165. PubMed PMID:28512444 PubMed Central PMC5411421.
  15. Szeto, HH, Liu, S, Soong, Y, Alam, N, Prusky, GT, Seshan, SV et al.. Protection of mitochondria prevents high-fat diet-induced glomerulopathy and proximal tubular injury. Kidney Int. 2016;90 (5):997-1011. doi: 10.1016/j.kint.2016.06.013. PubMed PMID:27519664 .
  16. Weber, M, Wu, T, Hanson, JE, Alam, NM, Solanoy, H, Ngu, H et al.. Cognitive Deficits, Changes in Synaptic Function, and Brain Pathology in a Mouse Model of Normal Aging(1,2,3). eNeuro. 2015;2 (5):. doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0047-15.2015. PubMed PMID:26473169 PubMed Central PMC4606159.
  17. Alam, NM, Mills, WC 4th, Wong, AA, Douglas, RM, Szeto, HH, Prusky, GT et al.. A mitochondrial therapeutic reverses visual decline in mouse models of diabetes. Dis Model Mech. 2015;8 (7):701-10. doi: 10.1242/dmm.020248. PubMed PMID:26035391 PubMed Central PMC4486862.
  18. Alam, NM, Altimus, CM, Douglas, RM, Hattar, S, Prusky, GT. Photoreceptor regulation of spatial visual behavior. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2015;56 (3):1842-9. doi: 10.1167/iovs.14-15644. PubMed PMID:25670495 .
  19. Schmidt, TM, Alam, NM, Chen, S, Kofuji, P, Li, W, Prusky, GT et al.. A role for melanopsin in alpha retinal ganglion cells and contrast detection. Neuron. 2014;82 (4):781-8. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.03.022. PubMed PMID:24853938 PubMed Central PMC4083763.
  20. Tschetter, WW, Alam, NM, Yee, CW, Gorz, M, Douglas, RM, Sagdullaev, B et al.. Experience-enabled enhancement of adult visual cortex function. J Neurosci. 2013;33 (12):5362-6. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5229-12.2013. PubMed PMID:23516301 PubMed Central PMC3964778.
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