Greg Schwartz

Biography

A concise summary of my career trajectory is that I have uncovered new computations in retinal circuits, and I have revealed new mechanisms that support these computations. These discoveries have impacted both vision science and systems neuroscience more generally. Receiving the New Innovator Award (DP2) in 2015, near the start of my independent career, allowed my lab to branch out into several new areas, including transcriptomics, retina to brain connectivity, neurovascular coupling, and retinal control of myopia development. The core of my research program remains rooted in the investigation of retinal circuits through visual stimulation and electrophysiology.

I am driven by the desire to understand how computations are performed in neural circuits and how they drive perception and behavior. My approach combines molecular genetics, anatomy, physiology, and computation to map the precise connectivity of neural circuits and measure responses to sensory stimuli at multiple locations throughout each circuit. I have chosen the mouse retina as a model system because of its well-characterized complement of distinct cell types and the ability to record from complete circuits ex vivo in the context of natural light stimuli.

Training the next generation of vision scientists and systems neuroscientists is fundamental to my professional goals. In my own lab, my first 3 postdocs were successful in attaining independent funding, and 3 of my first 4 graduate students (all three eligible ones) received individual NRSAs. On the institutional level, I serve as the Director of Admissions for NUIN, the interdepartmental neuroscience graduate program at Northwestern, and on the NUIN advisory board.