A key organisational principle of the visual system is parallel information processing, which starts to emerge already in the retina, the thin nervous tissue that lines the back of the eye. Ontologically a part of the brain, the retina is the first outpost of visual processing. In contrast to other senses, vision relies on a sensory organ equipped with its own neural processor. Instead of “wiring” the sensory cells directly to neurons that project to the brain, the retina contains an additional layer of interneurons, which heavily process the light signal from the photoreceptors before it is passed onto the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) – the retina’s output neurons – and forwarded via the optic nerve to higher visual brain centres.
At first glance, the organisation of the retina looks simple: An excitatory signal pathway links the photoreceptors via the bipolar cells (BCs) to the RGCs. Signals along this “vertical” pathway are shaped by lateral inhibition provided by horizontal cells (HCs) and amacrine cells (ACs) in the outer and inner retina, respectively. The surprising diversity of neuron types, however, hints at the complexity of retinal signal processing: The signals from 3-4 photoreceptor types – modulated by 2-3 HC types – is distributed onto more than a dozen BC types, indicating that parallelisation of visual information already starts at the first synapse of the visual system. In the inner retina, the BC signals are picked up by the dendrites of around 45 types of RGC. Moreover, likely a similar number of AC types shape the signal flow from BCs to RGCs via highly selective synaptic interactions. Finally, each RGC type relays a separate representation (“view”) of the visual scene to the brain.
At the heart of retinal signal processing lies a thick and dense synaptic layer, where the axon terminals of BCs interact with the dendrites of ACs and RGCs. With its layered organisation and highly selective connectivity, this so-called inner plexiform layer is reminiscent of an old-style electric switchboard for managing phone lines – hence the name of the consortium. Because of their central position in the retinal network, BCs represent a unique starting point for unravelling key principles of parallel processing: First, they implement the first stage of signal parallelisation in the visual system. Second, BCs provide the excitation that drives the extraction of visual features by the inner retinal circuits, thereby forming the basis for the next, much larger set of parallel information channels represented by the RGCs. Third, with “only” around 15 types, BCs are sufficiently diverse while experimentally well approachable.
The overall scientific objective of switchBoard aimed at a comprehensive understanding of BCs, their functional organisation, and their role in the first critical steps of vision in health and disease. The consortium’s combined expertise in neuroscience and vision research, together with the exceptionally broad spectrum of cutting-edge methods in the partners’ labs, enabled the early stage researchers (ESRs) to bring us through their work an important step closer to this goal.
switchBoard’s scientific objectives went hand in hand with its main training goal: To prepare ESRs for a successful career in a quickly changing research field. Neurosciences offer attractive interdisciplinarity to ESRs, with possible career paths in both the public and private sector. For a successful career in neuroscience, however, ESRs must be trained in multiple fields. Consequently, switchBoard ensured that ESRs received in-depth training in experimental and computational neuroscience, neurotechnology, and biomedicine. To this end, the consortium implemented an intense training programme, complemented by hand-on workshops organised by all our private sector partners. Through its interwoven research and training program, switchBoard contributed to replenishing resources that are often taken for granted but are of paramount importance for Europe: by training the next generation of competitive, multidisciplinary young scientists and by generating knowledge through basic research.
