![drawing of an ERG response](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/news_images/multifocalERG_Sutter.png?h=a5eb5da0&itok=jvhA92Xx)
The electroretinogram (ERG) is an established technique for non-invasively reading out the layer-by-layer functioning of the human retina, providing biomarkers for a wide range of retinal and neurological diseases. The effort to build a kinetic model of time waveform of the ERG was started in the 1990s, with most emphasis being placed on the earliest component, the a-wave of the underlying rod (night-level) photoreceptors. A new publication by Christopher Tyler, a Senior Scientist at SKERI, (Advanced Computational Model of Rod ERG Kinetics, Doc Ophthal, 2024) takes this effort to the next stage, integrating the computational modeling of previous studies into a full model of the kinetics of the ERG responses of rod (night-time) vision. The goal is to further develop this model to fully integrate it into a complete model of both the On- and Off-responses of rod (night-time) and cone (daylight) vision across the visible color spectrum. Once developed, this model of normative function can be used to identify much more specific deficits of retinal disorders than the present clinical indices, and should enable the development of a broader range of biomarkers for these disorders.