Timothy Gawne

Timothy Gawne
Professor

Senior Scientist (C), Minority Health & Research Center , General Clinical Research Center
Senior Scientist (C), Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) , General Clinical Research Center
Scientist (C), Comprehensive Neuroscience Center , General Clinical Research Center
Professor (P), Dept of Optometry & Vision Science , School of Optometry
Scientist (C), Center for Dev Func Imaging (CDFI) (Retired Org) , Vision Sciences (Retired Org)
Scientist (C), Civitan International Research Center , Academic Joint Departments
Assistant Professor (S), Biomedical Engineering , School of Engineering

Overview

I was originally trained as an electrical engineer, and worked in industry for a time, but then moved on to physiology. I am first and foremost a systems neuroscientist: I am interested in how information is processed and transmitted in the nervous system, not so much the details of specific genes and ion channels etc. I worked at the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) before moving to the UAB School of Optometry in 1996, where I remain to this day. I have applied this interest to the visual system, exploring visual cortical neuronal dynamics and, more recently, dynamics in the retina. Finally, I have a long-standing interest in science fiction, having authored the popular "Old Guy" series of cybertank novels (available on Amazon!).

Selected Publications

Academic Article

Year	Title	Altmetric
2023	To: The editorial staff of Advanced Materials Interfaces. Advanced Materials Interfaces. 2023
2022	Chromatically simulated myopic blur counteracts a myopiagenic environment. Experimental Eye Research. 222. 2022
2021	Amber light treatment produces hyperopia in tree shrews. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics. 41:1076-1086. 2021
2021	Tree shrews do not maintain emmetropia in initially-focused narrow-band cyan light. Experimental Eye Research. 206. 2021
2021	Effect of scleral crosslinking using multiple doses of genipin on experimental progressive myopia in tree shrews 2021
2021	How chromatic cues can guide human eye growth to achieve good focus. Journal of Vision. 21. 2021
2020	A multimodal magnetoencephalography 7 T fMRI and 7 T proton MR spectroscopy study in first episode psychosis. npj Schizophrenia. 6. 2020
2020	An opponent dual-detector spectral drive model of emmetropization. Vision Research. 173:7-20. 2020
2019	Infringement. Nature. 574:288. 2019
2019	Imi – Report on experimental models of emmetropization and myopia 2019
2019	Relationship Between Cortical Excitation and Inhibition and Task-Induced Activation and Deactivation: A Combined Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study at 7T in First-Episode Psychosis. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. 4:121-130. 2019
2019	7T Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex in First-Episode Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin. 45:180-189. 2019
2019	Examining resting-state functional connectivity in first-episode schizophrenia with 7T fMRI and MEG. NeuroImage: Clinical. 24. 2019
2018	Juvenile tree shrews do not maintain emmetropia in narrow-band blue light. Optometry and Vision Science. 95:911-920. 2018
2018	The hyperopic effect of narrow-band long-wavelength light in tree shrews increases non-linearly with duration. Vision Research. 146-147:9-17. 2018
2017	Long-wavelength (red) light produces hyperopia in juvenile and adolescent tree shrews. Vision Research. 140:55-65. 2017
2017	The effect of saccadic eye movements on the sensor-level magnetoencephalogram. Clinical Neurophysiology. 128:397-407. 2017
2017	The wavelength composition and temporal modulation of ambient lighting strongly affect refractive development in young tree shrews. Experimental Eye Research. 155:75-84. 2017
2017	Relationship between alpha rhythm and the default mode network: An EEG-fMRI study. Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology. 34:527-533. 2017
2015	The responses of V1 cortical neurons to flashed presentations of orthogonal single lines and edges. Journal of Neurophysiology. 113:2676-2681. 2015
2015	How does the neural retina process optical blur? Insights from emmetropization.. Journal of Vision. 15:252. 2015
2014	Vergence eye movements in patients with schizophrenia. Vision Research. 102:64-70. 2014
2013	Roboneuron: A simple and robust real-time analog spike simulator and calibrator. Journal of Neuroscience Methods. 218:161-163. 2013
2013	Magnetic transfer contrast accurately localizes substantia nigra confirmed by histology. Biological Psychiatry. 73:289-294. 2013
2012	Ocular convergence deficits in schizophrenia. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 3. 2012
2012	Attention influences single unit and local field potential response latencies in visual cortical area V4 2012
2011	Short-time scale dynamics in the responses to multiple stimuli in visual cortex. Frontiers in Psychology. 2. 2011
2011	Separability of stimulus parameter encoding by on-off directionally selective rabbit retinal ganglion cells. Journal of Neurophysiology. 105:2083-2099. 2011
2011	Robust sensory gating in the cortical visual evoked potential using two spatially separated stimuli. Clinical Neurophysiology. 122:588-593. 2011
2010	The local and non-local components of the local field potential in awake primate visual cortex. Journal of Computational Neuroscience. 29:615-623. 2010
2010	The response dynamics of rabbit retinal ganglion cells to simulated blur. Visual Neuroscience. 27:43-55. 2010
2009	Phase-sorting of evoked potentials: Pitfalls but potential. NeuroImage. 47:1830-1831. 2009
2009	The response dynamics of primate visual cortical neurons to simulated optical blur. Visual Neuroscience. 26:411-420. 2009
2009	The Visual Evoked Potential is independent of surface alpha rhythm phase. NeuroImage. 45:463-469. 2009
2008	Stimulus selection via differential response latencies in visual cortical area V4. Neuroscience Letters. 435:198-203. 2008
2007	Visual acuity of the midland banded water snake estimated from evoked telencephalic potentials 2007
2005	Retinal ganglion cell coding in simulated active vision. Visual Neuroscience. 22:789-806. 2005
2003	Video-rate and continuous visual stimuli do not produce equivalent response timings in visual cortical neurons. Visual Neuroscience. 20:495-500. 2003
2003	The responses of visual cortical neurons encode differences across saccades. NeuroReport. 14:105-109. 2003
2002	Responses of primate visual cortical neurons to stimuli presented by flash, saccade, blink, and external darkening. Journal of Neurophysiology. 88:2178-2186. 2002
2002	Responses of primate visual cortical V4 neurons to simultaneously presented stimuli. Journal of Neurophysiology. 88:1128-1135. 2002
2000	Activity of primate V1 cortical neurons during blinks. Journal of Neurophysiology. 84:2691-2694. 2000
2000	The simultaneous coding of orientation and contrast in the responses of V1 complex cells. Experimental Brain Research. 133:293-302. 2000
1999	The relation between V1 neuronal responses and eye movement-like stimulus presentations. Neurocomputing. 26-27:247-254. 1999
1999	The simultaneous representation of stimulus contrast and orientation by the responses of primate V1 complex cells. 1999
1999	Temporal coding as a means of information transfer in the primate visual system. Critical Reviews in Neurobiology. 13:83-101. 1999
1997	Insensitivity of V1 complex cell responses to small shifts in the retinal image of complex patterns. Journal of Neurophysiology. 78:3187-3197. 1997
1997	Neuronal codes: Reading them and learning how their structure influences network organization. Biosystems. 40:149-157. 1997
1996	Adjacent visual cortical complex cells share about 20% of their stimulus-related information. Cerebral Cortex. 6:482-489. 1996
1996	Latency: Another potential code for feature binding in striate cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology. 76:1356-1360. 1996
1995	Earth's curying capacity [3]. Science. 270:898. 1995
1995	Earth's carrying capacity.. Science. 270:898-899. 1995
1994	STRIATE CORTICAL-NEURONS SHOW SIMILAR RESPONSES TO ISOLUMINANT TEXTURED AS TO BLACK OR WHITE BARS, BUT WITH A 35 MS DELAY 1994
1993	How independent are the messages carried by adjacent inferior temporal cortical neurons 1993
1991	Unbiased measures of transmitted information and channel capacity from multivariate neuronal data 1991
1991	Concurrent processing and complexity of temporally encoded neuronal messages in visual perception. Science. 253:675-677. 1991
1991	Interactive effects among several stimulus parameters on the responses of striate cortical complex cells. Journal of Neurophysiology. 66:379-389. 1991
1991	Lateral geniculate neurons in behaving primates. I. Responses to two-dimensional stimuli. Journal of Neurophysiology. 66:777-793. 1991
1991	Lateral geniculate neurons in behaving primates. II. Encoding of visual information in the temporal shape of the response. Journal of Neurophysiology. 66:794-808. 1991
1991	Lateral geniculate neurons in behaving primates. III. Response predictions of a channel model with multiple spatial-to-temporal filters. Journal of Neurophysiology. 66:809-823. 1991
1991	Unbiased measures of transmitted information and channel capacity from multivariate neuronal data. 1991
1987	Estimating left ventricular offset volume using dual-frequency conductance catheters. Journal of Applied Physiology. 63:872-876. 1987
1985	Blood viscosity responses to maximal exercise in endurance-trained and sedentary female subjects. Journal of Applied Physiology. 59:348-353. 1985

Chapter

Year	Title	Altmetric
2013	Cortical computations using relative spike timing. 375-389. 2013

Research Overview

My current primary interest is in the neural circuitry that actively controls eye growth during infancy and childhood. We know that the retina uses visual cues to control eye growth, but we still don't know what these cues are, or how they are integrated, or what neural circuits are involved. This is of interest both scientifically and clinically, because it is the failure of this system in modern civilization that is leading to our current epidemic of myopia. I am also involved in collaborative efforts looking at cortical brain dynamics and schizophrenia.