Scholars@Duke
construction release_alert
The Scholars Team is working with OIT to resolve some issues with the Scholars search index
cancel
William Charles Hall

William Charles Hall

Professor Emeritus of Neurobiology
Neurobiology
wch@neuro.duke.edu
Box 3209 Med Ctr, Durham, NC 27710
327D Bryan Res Bldg, Durham, NC 27710

Overview

The superior colliculus, a phylogenetically ancient structure on the roof of the midbrain, provides a model system for study of one of the most fundamental problems in neurobiology-how sensory systems interact with motor systems to produce adaptive behavior. Many types of experiments indicate that the superior colliculus receives input from exteroceptive sensory systems and gives rise to efferent pathways to the motor areas of the brainstem and spinal cord that are involved in initiating orienting movements of the head and eyes. Dr. Hall's research is devoted to understanding the circuits that generate visually guided head and eye movements. The superior colliculus is a layered structure and these layers are a key to understanding the neural basis for its visuomotor functions. For example, projections from the retina terminate in one set of layers, whereas the major efferent motor pathways that initiate orienting movements of the head and eyes arise in another set. Since the sensory and motor layers are juxtaposed in the same structure, we can use in vitro methods to study their interactions. We use whole-cell patch-clamp recording methods together with either electrical or photostimulation to study the functional relationships between these layers in living brain slices. Intracellular labels that diffuse into the cells from the patch-clamp pipette allow us to correlate the physiology of the cells with their morphology and location within the layers.

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Professor Emeritus of Neurobiology · 2016 - Present Neurobiology, Basic Science Departments

Recent Publications

A circuit model for saccadic suppression in the superior colliculus.

Journal Article J Neurosci · February 9, 2011 Attenuation of visual activity in the superficial layers (SLs), stratum griseum superficiale and stratum opticum, of the superior colliculus during saccades may contribute to reducing perceptual blur during saccades and also may help prevent subsequent unw ... Full text Link to item Cite

Exploring the superior colliculus in vitro.

Journal Article J Neurophysiol · November 2009 The superior colliculus plays an important role in the translation of sensory signals that encode the location of objects in space into motor signals that encode vectors of the shifts in gaze direction called saccades. Since the late 1990s, our two laborat ... Full text Link to item Cite

Imaging synaptic inhibition throughout the brain via genetically targeted Clomeleon.

Journal Article Brain Cell Biol · August 2008 Here we survey a molecular genetic approach for imaging synaptic inhibition. This approach is based on measuring intracellular chloride concentration ([Cl(-)](i)) with the fluorescent chloride indicator protein, Clomeleon. We first describe several differe ... Full text Link to item Cite
View All Publications

Recent Grants

A new model of the role of the basal ganglia in eye movement initiation

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of California - Los Angeles · 2013 - 2015

Structural Organization of the Superior Colliculus

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 1999 - 2011

Dynamic imaging of synaptic inhibition in the brain

ResearchConsultant · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2005 - 2010

View All Grants

Education, Training & Certifications

Duke University · 1967 Ph.D.