Alan Litke, Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics

Alan Litke is physicist who is also interested in neurobiology. Several years ago, Litke began to utilize principles from his research on detection of particles in high-energy-physics collisions in order to develop electrode arrays that can be used to detect signals from the individual output neurons of live retinal tissue. Litke and neurobiologist E. J. Chichilnisky from the Salk Institute used this technology to discover a type of retinal cell that may help monkeys, apes, and humans see motion. Litke also collaborates with UCSC Professor David Feldheim and has recently begun using these detectors to investigate emergent properties in networks of hundreds of synaptically connected cortical neurons.