Ibbotson Lab - People

	Michael Ibbotson Senior Fellow My research interests are focussed on how natural visual systems see form and movement. This interest has led to a range of experimental approaches that include electro-physiological recording from visual interneurons in mammals (cats and monkeys) and insects, eye movement recording and psychophysical analysis of movement perception in humans and computer modelling. My research began when I embarked on a PhD in London in the late 1980s. Since 1990 I have been based at the Australian National University (ANU), but with periods of research in the United States. I am currently the Head of the Visual Sciences Group at the ANU, which is a highly interdisciplinary research department covering topics as diverse as the development of clinical tests for eye diseases through to arthropod vision.
	Shaun Cloherty Postdoctoral Fellow I received the BE (Hons) degree in Aerospace Avionics from the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia in 1997 and the Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia in 2005. From 2005-2007 I was employed as a Research Associate in the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Sydney, Australia, where my research activities included cardiac electrophysiology and modeling, flow estimation and modeling for control of an implantable rotary blood pump, and modeling of electrical stimulation strategies for a retinal vision prosthesis. I am currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Research School of Biological Sciences at The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, where my research interests include aspects of development and organization of the mammalian visual cortex and functional assessment of electrical stimulation strategies for a retinal vision prosthesis. I am a Founding Officer of the New South Wales Chapter of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, in Sydney, Australia.
	Markus Hietanen Postdoctoral Fellow I completed my Bachelor of Science in 2002 and a Graduate Diploma in Psychology in 2003. My Grad.Dip thesis looked at the possibility that the strength of the phantom motion after-effect may be influenced by involantary eyemovement using psychophysical methods. I went on to do a PhD in neuroscience at the ANU during which I examined motion (speed) and contrast adaptation using both electrophysiological and psychophysical methods. I completed my PhD dissertation in 2007 and was awarded the degree in 2008. During 2007 I moved to Atlanta to begin the first part of a collaborative postdoctoral fellowship working in the lab of Prof. Mike Mustari at Yerkes National Primate Research Center. My research in Atlanta examined the cortical activity in area dMST of strabismic monkeys. In 2008 I returned to the ANU and am currently working on a wide variety of projects employing psychophysical, electrophysiological and optical imaging methodology.
	Richard Berry Postdoctoral Fellow I originally moved to Dunedin, New Zealand to study neuroscience at the University of Otago in 1998. In 2001 I was awarded a BSc (Hons) degree for my work on developing an interactive three-dimensional model of the nervous system in the human jaw. In 2003 I moved to Canberra, Australia to undertake a PhD in neuroscience at the Australian National University. My PhD focussed on describing the anatomy, physiology and optics of the simple eyes (ocelli) of dragonflies. I completed my PhD in 2006 and since then have been lucky enough to have held a number of diverse positions at the Australian National University. My current research interests are focussed on understanding the fascinating visual systems of insects, in particular the ocelli. I am also strongly interested in using three-dimensional modelling techniques for accurately describing anatomical structures. Current work with Michael Ibbotson involves describing the three-dimensional structure of the neck musculature of the honeybee.
	Josh van Kleef PhD Candidate I am broadly interested in how the biophysical properties of neurons and neural circuits shape neural responses. In particular I study the ability of visual neurons in cats and dragonflies to encode contrast information. I use in vivo intracellular and extracellular recordings combined with reverse-correlation analysis to measure the receptive fields of these neurons. These maps are used to dissect the computational properties of the cells. Using biophysically realistic network models I examine possible underlying mechanisms responsible for receptive field properties.
	Yu-Shan Hung (Sherry) PhD Candidate I completed my master's degree in the Department of Entomology, National Chung-Hsing University, Taiwan in 2006. The topic of my master thesis was about the honeybee color opponent cells. I am broadly interested in insect visual sciences and neural mechanisms. I am currently working on the honeybee motion-sensitive neurons, trying to figure out the sensory-motor circuits and the neural computation of visual motion information. I will anatomically reveal the muscular system related to the optomotor response and identify the visual stimulus induced optomotor response by using intracellular and extracellular recording techniques.
	Steve Wenzel Psychology Honours Student I'm a psychology student currently undertaking my honours project in Michael's lab. I've been studying at the ANU for the past three years and have focused primarily on perception and visual neuroscience. I am interested broadly in cortical plasticity. The topic of my honours project revolves around contrast adaptation in individual neurons and the possibility that the orientation specificity of that adaptation may vary in relation to a cell's position relative to orientation pinwheels.