Vision Science Graduate Program

horopter Vision Science Research and Graduate Program

Vision science is an exciting and expanding field at the crossroads of modern biology, neuroscience, physics, optics, bio-engineering, chemistry, psychology, epidemiology, and optometry.

Investigators in Vision Science conduct human and animal research and modeling, yielding cutting-edge discoveries and applications in disciplines that include molecular genetics, clinical care, adaptive optics, neurobiology, cell biology, infectious disease, bioengineering, perception, and public health.

Building on an unsurpassed range of strengths in the visual health sciences, Berkeley researchers have introduced impressive advances in the understanding and improvement of human visual health.

The Vision Science program provides a cohesive home for these wide-ranging efforts to develop resources for groundbreaking research and translation of discoveries into clinical practice.

Vision Science PhD Program joins the UC Berkeley Bioscience Consortium!

As an interdisciplinary research group spread across more than 10 departments, Vision Science has a deep tradition of encouraging innovative and collaborative investigations. With our most recent pairing, we join other Bioscience faculty to further our commitment to graduate student research.

The VS Bioscience Faculty listed below are involved in a multitude of biological projects.

Lisa Barcellos, PhD: Genetic epidemiology, human genetics, autoimmune diseases, multiple schlerosis, lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis
Lu Chen, MD, PhD: Corneal inflammation, lymph/blood vascular biology, immunology, transplantation
Yang Dan, PhD: Visual neurophysiology, computational neuroscience
John G. Flannery, PhD: Gene therapy, inherited retinal degeneration, neurobiology of photoreceptors, signal transducing intermediates in the visual system
Suzanne M. J. Fleiszig, OD, PhD: Infectious keratitis in contact lens wearers, pathogenesis of bacterial infection of the cornea
Xiaohua Gong, PhD: Molecular mechanisms for eye development and disease
Karsten Gronert, PhD: Ocular inflammation/immunology and wound healing
Richard H. Kramer, PhD: Chemical signaling within and between neurons.
Frank S. Werblin, PhD: Electrophysiology of local circuit interactions in the neural retina
Christine Wildsoet, OD, BSc, PhD: Emmetropization, retinal processing of defocus, choroidal accommodation, retina-choroid-sclera signal pathway, ocular rhythms, pharmacological modulation of eye growth, blur detection, anisometropia, refractive development in albinos