Research Interest
Role of experience in the development of the nervous system; analyses of the neuroanatomy, electrophysiology, neuro-pharmacology and development of the auditory system using both whole animal and brain slice techniques.
Current Projects
- Experiential influences on the development of the auditory system. This includes analyses of the physiological and trophic roles of specific neurotransmitters using a brain slice preparation
- Electrophysiological investigations of how the brain might encode acoustic information
Much of our current research makes use of a brain slice preparation of the avian brain stem auditory system. The general lines of research currently active in my laboratory are highlighted below. The listed publications provide examples from each of these areas of interest. This work has been funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders (NIDCD).
Experiential influences
Sensory experience has a dramatic influence on the development of the nervous system. In the auditory system, for example, early deafness results in the neuronal death and atrophy. Somehow, auditory experience keeps these neurons healthy. We are attempting to identify the important activity -dependent signal(s) for cell survival in this system and determine the cellular mechanisms of their action.
Neuropharmacology and Neurophysiology
In addition to characterizing physiological responses produced by transmitter substances, we are investigating how the brain might encode acoustic information. Specifically, we have been investigating a neural circuit believed to be involved in coding sound location. Neurons in this circuit have specialized features for encoding temporal aspect of auditory stimuli and encode the location of a sound based on the differences in the timing of information coming from the two ears.