Portrait of Matthew Loukine

Matthew Loukine

PhD - McGill University
Supervisor
Blake Richards
Research Topics
Computational Neuroscience

Publications

RetINaBox: A Hands-On Learning Tool for Experimental Neuroscience
Brune Bettler
Flavia Arias Armas
Erica Cianfarano
Vanessa Bordonaro
Megan Q. Liu
Matthew Loukine
Mingyu Wan
Aude Villemain
Blake A. Richards
Stuart Trenholm
An exciting aspect of neuroscience is developing and testing hypotheses via experimentation. However, due to logistical and financial hurdle… (see more)s, the experiment and discovery component of neuroscience is generally lacking in classroom and outreach settings. To address this issue, here we introduce RetINaBox: a low-cost open–source electronic visual system simulator that provides users with a hands-on tool to discover how the visual system builds feature detectors. RetINaBox includes an LED array for generating visual stimuli and photodiodes that act as an array of model photoreceptors. Custom software on a Raspberry Pi computer reads out responses from model photoreceptors and allows users to control the polarity and delay of the signal transfer from model photoreceptors to model retinal ganglion cells. Interactive lesson plans are provided, guiding users to discover different types of visual feature detectors—including ON/OFF, center-surround, orientation-selective, and direction-selective receptive fields—as well as their underlying circuit computations.
2025-12-31
eNeuro (published)
doi.org
RetINaBox: A hands-on learning tool for experimental neuroscience
Brune Bettler
Flavia Arias Armas
Erica Cianfarano
Vanessa Bordonaro
Megan Liu
Matthew Loukine
Mingyu Wan
Aude Villemain
Blake Richards
Stuart Trenholm
An exciting aspect of neuroscience is developing and testing hypotheses via experimentation. However, due to logistical and financial hurdle… (see more)s, the experiment and discovery component of neuroscience is generally lacking in classroom and outreach settings. To address this issue, here we introduce RetINaBox: a low-cost open-source electronic visual system simulator that provides users with a hands-on tool to discover how the visual system builds feature detectors. RetINaBox features an LED array for generating visual stimuli and a photodiode array that acts as a mosaic of model photoreceptors. Custom software on a Raspberry Pi computer reads out responses from model photoreceptors and allows users to control the polarity and delay of the signal transfer from model photoreceptors to model retinal ganglion cells. Interactive lesson plans are provided, guiding users to discover different types of visual feature detectors—including ON/OFF, center-surround, orientation selective, and direction selective receptive fields—as well as their underlying circuit computations.
2025-09-12
bioRxiv (preprint)
doi.org