#ipRGCs
Which ipRGCs?
November 28, 2024 at 2:44 AM
@ludovicmure.bsky.social presents early findings showing that ipRGCs may be less abundant in Alzheimer’s disease donors and associated with disease progression #slrch2026 #iprgcs #light
September 12, 2026 at 7:45 AM
Dopaminergic amacrines and ipRGCs (M1s specifically) - and look how much they are wrapped up in each other 😍 #accessoryONsublayer
November 27, 2024 at 8:49 AM
Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) sense light but not for vision. They sense light to set the circadian clock.
November 26, 2024 at 11:25 PM
Our latest paper is out! While the circadian photoentrainment circuit has been extensively studied, the mechanisms regulating its development remain poorly understood. Here we show that retinal Müller glia play a key role in this process. Check it out! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Retinal glia regulate development of the circadian photoentrainment circuit
Circadian photoentrainment depends on intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs), which convey environmental light information to th…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 29, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Opening talk by Michael Do on principles of photoentrainment by intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) #SLRCH2025
June 14, 2025 at 1:59 PM
A really nice new paper in Cell Reports from Kat Daly on M4 ipRGCs.
One of the themes I've loved watching over the past decade is the transformation of melanopsin biology from a niche circadian photopigment into a major player in image-forming vision. 1/5
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com
July 13, 2026 at 6:29 PM
Why doesn’t normal daylight do this?
Under bright light, ipRGCs enter depolarization block, limiting their ability to signal to the SCN.
January 7, 2026 at 6:12 PM
Cone photoreceptors are hard to beat, and ipRGCs are just plain cool, but I think my favorite is the humble H1 horizontal cell. They’re the unsung heroes of high acuity vision. Just quietly going about their business while the photoreceptors and ganglion cells get all the glory.
Making a real effort to post things about science not just 1) politics, 2) nonsense, though you can count on those from me.

So…

What is your favorite retinal cell type? I have two. Mueller glia cells (of course) but my real favorite is intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells.
November 30, 2024 at 12:42 AM
For decades, we thought the gate preventing daytime light from shifting the SCN clock resided in the SCN itself.
This paper shows the culprit isn’t the brain’s clock, it’s the light sensors (ipRGCs) in your eyes.
January 7, 2026 at 6:11 PM
And another role for #ipRGCs, the photoreceptors mainly responsible for non-visual responses to #light such as circadian clock resetting and regulation of alertness and mood, enhancing orientation selectivity in mouse visual cortex.
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Non-image-forming photoreceptors improve visual orientation selectivity and image perception
Using two-photon and multi-channel recordings from mouse primary visual cortex V1, Shi, Zhang, et al. demonstrate that intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells improve V1 orientation selectivity by differentially modulating excitatory and inhibitory neurons. This modulation by ipRGCs ultimately improves orientation discrimination in both mice and humans.
www.cell.com
December 31, 2024 at 3:57 PM
A new preprint by myself!

I drafted a journal club article arguing that intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) are responsible for more than just non-image-forming functions

osf.io/preprints/os...
OSF
osf.io
April 30, 2025 at 7:18 PM
How did we figure this out?
Bypass light and activate retinal light-sensing cells (ipRGCs) directly. The circadian clock shifts even during the day.
The SCN can reset, which means the block isn’t there.
January 7, 2026 at 6:11 PM
I love ipRGCs.
November 27, 2024 at 9:06 PM
You—or someone you know—is likely to have the photic sneeze reflex, an autosomal-dominant trait of sneezing in response to bright light. Lucien and Manuel had a sneezer wear a light logger and found the illuminance recipe that triggers the sneeze. It’s gotta be the ipRGCs that carry this signal…
Sneezing in response to bright light exposure: A case study in a photic sneezer https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.11.627890v1
December 13, 2024 at 12:18 PM
Why doesn’t #light reset our #circadian clock during the day? The gate isn’t only in the brain (SCN), but also in the eye. The #ipRGCs limit their own firing, which shapes when light can produce a phase shift.
rdcu.be/eZ8cH
ipRGC properties prevent light from shifting the SCN clock during daytime
Nature - The inability of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells to shift the circadian clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus during daytime is caused by light-dependent depolarization...
rdcu.be
January 21, 2026 at 7:41 PM
"His biggest scientific achievement is the discovery that light-sensitive cells in the retina unrelated to vision synchronise us to day and night. If these are lost or damaged things can get seriously out of whack..." #ipRGCs
www.torch.ox.ac.uk/article/the-...
The Guardian interview with Professor Russell Foster CBE
www.torch.ox.ac.uk
October 22, 2025 at 11:41 AM
One of the most exciting developments in the field is that we're no longer asking,
"What do ipRGCs do?"
We're asking,
"How do different ipRGC subtypes solve fundamentally different visual problems?"
That shift has opened an entirely new chapter in retinal neuroscience. 4/5
July 13, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Given the choice, mice spend less than 1 hour a day in bright environments.

SWC Seminar speaker Dr Stuart Peirson (@ox.ac.uk) discusses circadian rhythms and naturalistic behaviour in our latest Q&A.

Read more ⬇️

www.sainsburywellcome.org/web/qa/dawn-...
February 4, 2025 at 2:22 PM
If you squint you can almost make out the ipRGCs!
December 14, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Spatial distribution and functional integration of displaced ipRGCs https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.09.05.556383v1
Spatial distribution and functional integration of displaced ipRGCs https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.09.05.556383v1
The mammalian retina contains many distinct types of ganglion cells, which form mosaics to evenly ti
www.biorxiv.org
September 6, 2023 at 1:15 AM
Light, rhythms, Alzheimer’s disease and a bit of Milan ☀️ 👁️🧠 🇮🇹
Great #SLRCH2026 meeting: Arianna presented her PhD project on altered light-perception circuits in mouse models of AD, while I shared the human side of the story.
#CircadianRhythms #Light #Sleep #AlzheimersDisease #Neuroscience #ipRGCs
September 15, 2026 at 7:37 PM
Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells and visual processing: ipRGCs beyond non-image-forming functions www.frontiersin.org/journals/neu... What does this mean for retinal implants for treating RP, AMD?
Frontiers | Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells and visual processing: ipRGCs beyond non-image-forming functions
Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) are relatively newly discovered photoreceptors other than rods and cones. For the last decade, p...
www.frontiersin.org
August 14, 2025 at 7:40 PM