Abstract
The fovea mediates much of our conscious visual perception but is a delicate retinal structure that is difficult to investigate physiologically using traditional approaches. By expressing the calcium indicator protein GCaMP6s in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) of the living primate we can optically read out foveal RGC activity in response to visual stimuli presented to the intact eye. Pairing this with adaptive optics ophthalmoscopy it is possible to both present highly stabilized visual stimuli to the fovea and read out retinal activity on a cellular scale in the living animal. This approach has allowed us to map the functional architecture of the fovea at the retinal level and to classify RGCs in vivo based on their responses to chromatic stimuli. Recently we have used this platform as a pre-clinical testbed to demonstrate successful restoration of foveal RGC responses following optogenetic therapy.