What the eye tells the brain is controlled by the neurobiological elements operating in the cells and the synapses of the retina. Modulation at the photoreceptor output synapse adapts our eyes to light and affects our perception of contrast, shape, color and movement. Our ability to detect edges in the visual scene comes about in part from lateral synaptic inhibition at this first site of neuronal integration in the visual pathway. Investigations in the lab concern mostly the electrophsyiological properties of rod and cone photoreceptors and the cells that function in concert with the photoreceptors. Rods are the remarkably sensitive neurons that can detect the dimmest light possible, a single photon. Diseases involving rods rob people of night vision, causing night-blindness. Diseases of cones impart colour blindness and prevent the ability to detect small objects or fine print. Using single, isolated retinal cells and living retinal slices from several animal models, we employ several technologies (patch clamp recording, ion imaging, and eyecup electrophysiology) to study the electrical responses generated by ion channels in the retina, and how various drugs and toxins affect the transport of important ions via these channels. Our major goal is to describe the electrical and chemical properties of the synapses in the retina, to discover mechanisms by which ganglion cells, the output neurons of the retina, can be affected in disease, and to understand the complex interactions between retinal neurons and non-neuronal supporting cells, called glia.