Prof Simon Laughlin FRS

Biography

1970 B.A. Cantab. (Zoology) 1974 M.A. Cantab. 1974 Ph.D. in Neurobiology, Australian National University, Canberra. Supervisors, GA Horridge, R Menzel 1974-1975 Post-doctoral Fellow, Department of Neurobiology, Australian National University. 1976 Guest Research Worker, Institut fur Tierphysiologie, Freie Universität, Berlin. 1981-1982 Visiting Research Scientist, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Yale University. 1975-1983 Fellow, Department of Neurobiology, Australian National University. 1983-1984 Senior Fellow, Department of Neurobiology, Australian National University. 1984-1996 Lecturer, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK 1996-1999 Reader in Sensory Neuroscience, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK 1999-2004 Rank Research Professor in Opto-Electronics, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK 2004 - Professor of Neurobiology, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK; 2015 - Emeritus Professor of Neurobiology, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge.

Research

Structure, function, evolution and design of eyes and neural circuits

Energy efficiency, neuronal function and circuit design

The biophysics of energy and information

Visual ecology

Insect vision

Publications

Key publications:

Attwell, D., and Laughlin, S.B. (2001). An energy budget for signaling in the grey matter of the brain. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism 21, 1133–1145.

Niven, J.E., Anderson, J.C., and Laughlin, S.B. (2007). Fly photoreceptors demonstrate energy-information trade-offs in neural coding. PLoS Biology 5, e116.

Fain, G.L., Hardie, R., and Laughlin, S.B. (2010). Phototransduction and the evolution of photoreceptors. Current Biology 20, R114–R124.

Sengupta, B., Stemmler, M., Laughlin, S.B., and Niven, J.E. (2010). Action potential energy efficiency varies among neuron types in vertebrates and invertebrates. PLoS Computational Biology 6, e1000840.

Sterling, P. and Laughlin, S. Principles of Neural Design. Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press, 2015

Heras, F.J.H. and Laughlin, S.B. Optimizing the use of a sensor resource for opponent polarization coding. Peer J. 5 e2772

Other publications:

Heras, H.J.S., Anderson, J., Laughlin, S.B. and Niven, J. E. (2017) Voltage-dependent K+ channels improve the energy efficiency of signalling in blowfly photoreceptors. J. Roy.Soc. Interface 14: 20160938

Sengupta, B., Faisal, A.A., Laughlin, S.B., and Niven, J.E. (2013). The effect of cell size and channel density on neuronal information encoding and energy efficiency. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 9, 1465–1473

Parsons, M.M., Krapp, H.G., and Laughlin, S.B. (2010). Sensor Fusion in Identified Visual Interneurons. Current Biology 20, 624–628.

Okawa, H., Sampath, A.P., Laughlin, S.B., and Fain, G.L. (2008). ATP Consumption by Mammalian Rod Photoreceptors in Darkness and in Light. Current Biology 18, 1917–1921.

Laughlin, S.B., and Sejnowski, T.J. (2003). Communication in neuronal networks. Science 301, 1870–1874.

Burton, B.G., and Laughlin, S. B. (2003). Neural images of pursuit targets in the photoreceptor arrays of male and female houseflies Musca domestica. Journal of Experimental Biology 206, 3963–3977.

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