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Related Research Units

Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center Research
Neurology Research
Do Laboratory Research
F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center

Research Overview

Our lab asks how light drives functions that are as diverse as visual perception, sleep regulation, hormonal control, and setting of the internal body clock. We pose this question for species that occupy distinct ecological niches to learn how visual mechanisms are tailored to different behavioral needs. Our research spans organizational levels and time scales, from molecules to circuits and from milliseconds to hours. It centers on electrophysiological and optical techniques that are applied in vitro and in vivo.

Visual performance is remarkable. Perception can be elicited by a handful of photons, yet continues when the light level has intensified by many orders of magnitude. How is this dynamic range established? In cases of severe blindness where visual awareness is lost, light can still keep the body clock and hormone levels in register with the solar cycle. What are the origins of this robustness?

Questions of dynamic range, robustness, and other parameters of system operation recur throughout the biological sciences. We pose them in the visual system, where the input (light) can be precisely controlled and its effects can be quantified at levels ranging from the conformational changes of molecules to alterations in behavior. We seek connections between these levels.

We focus on two aspects of the visual system. The first is the fovea, a retinal specialization that initiates most visual perception in humans and other primates but is found in no other mammal. We seek to understand how the fovea supports the exceptional visual acuity of primates, which is 10-fold higher than that of cats and 100-fold higher than that of mice. The second concerns unusual photoreceptors; these are not the classical rods and cones, but a population of retinal output neurons that capture light with a molecule called melanopsin. Signals from these intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) largely bypass consciousness while exerting a broad influence on physiology. We study the mechanisms of signal generation by ipRGCs and interpret them in the context of downstream circuits in the retina and brain.

An understanding of the visual system provides the foundation for maintaining its health, detecting disease, and developing methods to forestall and reverse blindness.

Research Background

Michael Tri H. Do is a member of the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Boston Children's Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. His postdoctoral work, done with King-Wai Yau at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, concerned an unusual type of mammalian photoreceptor that sends information directly from the retina to the brain. He completed his Ph.D. with Bruce Bean at Harvard Medical School, investigating the origin of electrical activity in certain cells of the basal ganglia. As an undergraduate at Georgetown University, he worked with Susette Mueller to learn how some types of cancer cells grow and spread more effectively than others.

 

Publications

  1. High-fidelity backpropagation through primate foveal cones. bioRxiv. 2026 Mar 29. View Abstract
  2. Severe Hypoglycaemia Secondary to Chronic Opioid-Induced Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Suppression: An Under-Recognised Phenomenon. Med J Aust. 2026 Jan; 224(1):e70124. View Abstract
  3. Retinal Origins of Circadian Photoregulation's Specialized Dynamic Range and Temporal Integration. bioRxiv. 2025 Dec 30. View Abstract
  4. Molecular and spatial analysis of ganglion cells on retinal flatmounts identifies perivascular neurons resilient to glaucoma. Neuron. 2025 Oct 15; 113(20):3390-3407.e8. View Abstract
  5. SARM1 loss protects retinal ganglion cells in a mouse model of autosomal dominant optic atrophy. J Clin Invest. 2025 Jun 16; 135(12). View Abstract
  6. Deep R-gene discovery in HLB resistant wild Australian limes uncovers evolutionary features and potentially important loci for hybrid breeding. Front Plant Sci. 2024; 15:1503030. View Abstract
  7. Molecular and spatial analysis of ganglion cells on retinal flatmounts: diversity, topography, and perivascularity. bioRxiv. 2024 Dec 17. View Abstract
  8. The Neurophysiological Effects of Theta Burst Stimulation as Measured by Electroencephalography: A Systematic Review. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2024 Nov; 9(11):1083-1120. View Abstract
  9. Pupil constriction by contrast for contrast. Neuron. 2024 Jul 17; 112(14):2261-2262. View Abstract
  10. A Prospective Study of the Diagnostic Performance of Photon-Counting CT Compared With MRI in the Characterization of Renal Masses. Invest Radiol. 2024 Nov 01; 59(11):774-781. View Abstract
  11. New-Onset Hypertension and Seizures in a 10-year-old Girl with Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome. Pediatr Rev. 2024 Apr 01; 45(4):230-233. View Abstract
  12. Recommendations for measuring and standardizing light for laboratory mammals to improve welfare and reproducibility in animal research. PLoS Biol. 2024 Mar; 22(3):e3002535. View Abstract
  13. The Multistable Melanopsins of Mammals. Front Ophthalmol (Lausanne). 2023; 3. View Abstract
  14. A systematic review of the neurobiological effects of theta-burst stimulation (TBS) as measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Brain Struct Funct. 2023 May; 228(3-4):717-749. View Abstract
  15. Encoding of environmental illumination by primate melanopsin neurons. Science. 2023 01 27; 379(6630):376-381. View Abstract
  16. Light links neonatal neurons for learning. Cell. 2022 08 18; 185(17):3081-3083. View Abstract
  17. Assessment of cortical inhibition depends on inter individual differences in the excitatory neural populations activated by transcranial magnetic stimulation. Sci Rep. 2022 06 15; 12(1):9923. View Abstract
  18. The role of the primary motor cortex in motor imagery: A theta burst stimulation study. Psychophysiology. 2022 10; 59(10):e14077. View Abstract
  19. Individual variations of visual information. Neuron. 2022 02 16; 110(4):564-565. View Abstract
  20. Do gaze behaviours during action observation predict interpersonal motor resonance? Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2022 02 03; 17(1):61-71. View Abstract
  21. Retinal ganglion cells expressing CaM kinase II in human and nonhuman primates. J Comp Neurol. 2022 06; 530(9):1470-1493. View Abstract
  22. A single- and paired-pulse TMS-EEG investigation of the N100 and long interval cortical inhibition in autism spectrum disorder. Brain Stimul. 2022 Jan-Feb; 15(1):229-232. View Abstract
  23. Is there a relationship between EEG and sTMS neurophysiological markers of the putative human mirror neuron system? J Neurosci Res. 2021 12; 99(12):3238-3249. View Abstract
  24. Satb1 expression in retinal ganglion cells of marmosets, macaques, and humans. J Comp Neurol. 2022 04; 530(6):923-940. View Abstract
  25. Mortality among uranium miners in North America and Europe: the Pooled Uranium Miners Analysis (PUMA). Int J Epidemiol. 2021 05 17; 50(2):633-643. View Abstract
  26. Mental rotation performance in young adults with and without developmental coordination disorder. Hum Mov Sci. 2021 Jun; 77:102787. View Abstract
  27. Optimized Signal Flow through Photoreceptors Supports the High-Acuity Vision of Primates. Neuron. 2020 10 28; 108(2):335-348.e7. View Abstract
  28. Cerebral Cortical Activity Following Non-invasive Cerebellar Stimulation-a Systematic Review of Combined TMS and EEG Studies. Cerebellum. 2020 Apr; 19(2):309-335. View Abstract
  29. Magstim 2002 and Bistim Mode maximum stimulus output values are not equivalent: Configuration selection is critical. Brain Stimul. 2020 Mar - Apr; 13(2):444-446. View Abstract
  30. Melanopsin and the Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells: Biophysics to Behavior. Neuron. 2019 10 23; 104(2):205-226. View Abstract
  31. Molecular Classification and Comparative Taxonomics of Foveal and Peripheral Cells in Primate Retina. Cell. 2019 02 21; 176(5):1222-1237.e22. View Abstract
  32. Mixed Palettes of Melanopsin Phototransduction. Cell. 2018 10 18; 175(3):637-639. View Abstract
  33. Biophysical Variation within the M1 Type of Ganglion Cell Photoreceptor. Cell Rep. 2017 Oct 24; 21(4):1048-1062. View Abstract
  34. A Population Representation of Absolute Light Intensity in the Mammalian Retina. Cell. 2017 Nov 02; 171(4):865-876.e16. View Abstract
  35. Isoprenylcysteine carboxylmethyltransferase function is essential for RAB4A-mediated integrin ß3 recycling, cell migration and cancer metastasis. Oncogene. 2017 10 12; 36(41):5757-5767. View Abstract
  36. The outer and inner halves of photoreceptor adaptation. J Physiol. 2017 06 01; 595(11):3247-3248. View Abstract
  37. Melanopsin tristability for sustained and broadband phototransduction. Neuron. 2015 Mar 04; 85(5):1043-55. View Abstract
  38. Adaptation to steady light by intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Apr 30; 110(18):7470-5. View Abstract
  39. Melanopsin-positive intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells: from form to function. J Neurosci. 2011 Nov 09; 31(45):16094-101. View Abstract
  40. Melanopsin signalling in mammalian iris and retina. Nature. 2011 Nov 02; 479(7371):67-73. View Abstract
  41. Tracer coupling of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells to amacrine cells in the mouse retina. J Comp Neurol. 2010 Dec 01; 518(23):4813-24. View Abstract
  42. Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells. Physiol Rev. 2010 Oct; 90(4):1547-81. View Abstract
  43. Photon capture and signalling by melanopsin retinal ganglion cells. Nature. 2009 Jan 15; 457(7227):281-7. View Abstract
  44. Non-image-forming ocular photoreception in vertebrates. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2005 Aug; 15(4):415-22. View Abstract
  45. Sodium currents in subthalamic nucleus neurons from Nav1.6-null mice. J Neurophysiol. 2004 Aug; 92(2):726-33. View Abstract
  46. Subthreshold sodium currents and pacemaking of subthalamic neurons: modulation by slow inactivation. Neuron. 2003 Jul 03; 39(1):109-20. View Abstract
  47. The Syk tyrosine kinase suppresses malignant growth of human breast cancer cells. Nature. 2000 Aug 17; 406(6797):742-7. View Abstract
  48. Phagocytosis of cross-linked gelatin matrix by human breast carcinoma cells correlates with their invasive capacity. Clin Cancer Res. 1998 Feb; 4(2):507-15. View Abstract

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