筑波大学生命環境科学研究科生物科学専攻　
櫻井研究室

    Vertebrate animals obtain most of ambient light information through photoreceptors, where light is absorbed and signaled to the central nervous system. Visual perception initiates with the absorption of light by rod and cone photoreceptors in the retina, which mediate dim light vision and bright light vision, respectively. In addition to the classical image-forming vision, light reception by inner retinal neurons or extraocular photoreceptors is thought to be of great importance to animal behaviors such as circadian phase shift, reproduction and magnetoreception. The aim of our research is to elucidate underlying mechanism of the photoperceptions by which absorbed photons are converted into an electrical response and signaled to the brain. To achieve this goal, we mainly use electrophysiological technique, a powerful tool to characterize molecular mechanisms in neurons, in combination with genetically manipulated animals and computer simulation based on mathematical model.