Abstract
The initial step in vision in all vertebrates is triggered via absorption of a photon by a visual pigment located in the photoreceptors of the eye. Variation in the functional properties of visual pigments can therefore have profound consequences on the visual capabilities of an organism. The visual system has a surprisingly large dynamic range, and is highly specialized for the efficient sensing of light in extremely diverse light environments. How is this achieved at the molecular level? My laboratory studies these and other questions such as the mechanisms of spectral tuning, and the evolution of color vision, using a variety of interdisciplinary approaches, including ancestral reconstruction, computational sequence analysis, site-directed mutagenesis and protein expression in mammalian and yeast systems.

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