Grant: Team Grant: Vision, Hearing and Communication Disorders - LOI

The objective of the proposed Team Grant is to undertake an interdisciplinary set of studies that will tackle the underlying neurobiological causes of perceptual dysfunction that arises from sensory loss. Our central goal will be aimed at restoring normal perceptual function through research at three functional levels ¿ behavioural, physiological, and molecular. We have chosen to direct our effort at the primary visual cortex and use this as a model system, given the extant knowledge of its functional architecture and the known deviations that occur in its anatomical and physiological makeup following sensory loss. As such, our research is primarily aimed at restoring visual dysfunction and blindness, though the impact of our findings will be generally transferable to other sensory systems. The team will consist of three major laboratories at McGill University and a worldwide network of collaborators.