Biological Sciences
Dr. Cindy Linn
Professor
E-mail: cindy.linn@wmich.edu
Office: 3165 Wood Hall
Lab: 3054 Haenicke Hall
Office Phone: 269-387-5615
Lab phone: 269-387-3849
Visit her personal page (Click here)
Research Description
Area of Research: Neurophysiology
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences. Dr. Linn is a neurophysiologist whose interests are concerned with the cellular mechanisms involved in visual processing in the vertebrate retina. One major project in her lab deals with neuroprotection against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity using an in vitro model of glaucoma. In these studies, adult pig retinal ganglion cells are isolated from other retinal neurons and cultured under excitotoxic-inducing conditions. Recently, studies in the lab have identified a neuroprotective agent that prevents retinal ganglion cells from dying. Current research is identifying and analyzing the mechanisms involved in neuroprotection using a combination of pharmacological, electrophysiological and ELISA techniques.
Another major project in the lab deals with the regulation and modulation of voltage- and agonist- gated channels in horizontal cells of the vertebrate retina. These channels have been found to play a key role in several aspects of visual processing in vertebrates such as light and dark adaptation. Using a combination of electrophysiological techniques, as well as calcium imaging and immunocytochemistry, Dr. Linn uses adult isolated catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) retinal cells as well as a retinal slice preparation to determine how these channels are modulated and how modulation of the channels affects visual processing. Work from Dr. Linn's lab is funded by Midwest Eye-Banks and the National Institute of Health.