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Abstract
Technological changes to modern society have lead to circadian misalignment in a significant portion of the population, resulting in numerous metabolic, sleep, and mood disorders. This dysfunction is due to alterations in the vast range of biological clocks that regulate our physiology. My thesis work has focused on the study of a previously undescribed subpopulation of ipRGCs. These cells form an evenly-spaced mosaic and are restricted to the dorsal retina, coding for luminance reflected off the ground. Although they share some morphological similarity with other ipRGCs, I demonstrate this subpopulation has unique central projects to areas of circadian pacemaking, and form the exclusive innervation to the supraoptic nucleus (SON-ipRGCs); a site involved in systemic fluid homeostasis, maternal behavior, and appetite.