POENB Faculty...
David Anderson - The Mind Project
Dr. Anderson is the Director of The Mind Project, an international research and curriculum project in the cognitive and learning sciences. He is currently heading up an NSF-supported team that is developing an interactive, online curriculum that introduces cutting edge research methodologies in the cognitive sciences to undergraduates. He also heads up the Consortium on Cognitive Science Instruction that is gathering the best of instructional materials in the field to be housed in The Mind Project Archive. New initiatives by The Mind Project include curriculum development for middle schools and high schools, a new digital publishing venture with Milner Library, and an expansion of the virtual neuroscience lab project.
For more information about Dr. Anderson click here.
John E. Baur - Microscopic Sensors for Neurochemical Measurements
Dr. Baur is an analytical chemist whose research focuses on electrochemistry and microsensors. His earlier work focused on developing fast-scan cyclic voltammetry at a carbon-fiber microelectrode for monitoring biogenic amine neurotransmitters (e.g., dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin). More recently, he has developed the scanning electrochemical microscope for imaging live neurons in culture and has begun a collaboration with a neuroscientist to evaluate the role of serotonin in taste bud function.
For more information about Dr. Baur click here.
Rachel M. Bowden - Impact of Maternal Provisioning of Resources on Offspring Development
Dr. Bowden is an ecological physiologist with interests in maternal provisioning of resources to offspring, the neuroendocrine basis of sex determination, and the development of the immune system in reptiles. In egg-laying reptiles, maternal resource provisioning includes standard resources such as lipids and proteins, but females also allocate steroid hormones and immunoglobulins to their eggs. Dr. Bowden’s research program is focused on investigating the impact of maternal provisioning of these varied resources on offspring development.
For more information about Dr. Bowden click here.
Joseph M. Casto - Hormones, Brain & Behavior: Behavioral Neuroendocrinology
Dr. Casto is a neuroendocrinologist who investigates the influences of sex hormones such as testosterone and estradiol on the brain and behavior in rodents and songbirds. Sex hormones can affect behavior by interacting with the nervous system both during early development as well as in adulthood. By experimentally manipulating exposure to androgens or estrogens at various points in an animal’s life span, one can investigate how behavior, morphology, and physiology are integrated into adaptive phenotypes. Casto’s projects range from description of sex differences in developmental patterns of sex steroid exposure to experimental manipulation of the internal endocrine environments in developing and adult animals, to understand better the mechanisms that mediate sex differences in behavior and physiology.
For more information about Dr. Casto click here.
Valeri Farmer-Dougan - Reinforcement - Neural and Behavioral Correlates
Dr. Farmer-Dougan is a psychologist with specific interest in neural mechanisms related to reward choice and sensitivity to reward. Rewarded behavior (eating, drinking, sexual behavior, and other motivated behaviors) are particularly linked to dopamine. Traditionally considered the neural substrate of reward, more recent research on dopamine suggests it acts to elicit reward-related behavior and provide feedback to changes in the reward situation. Dopamine is integrally involved in pathologies such as addiction, attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder and other disorders related to dysfunctional reward choice. Farmer-Dougan’s projects include the study of individual reward choice during group competition and changes in sensitivity to reward during manipulation of specific dopamine receptors. She also has extensive experience in the treatment of clinical human populations, particularly linking pharmacological and behavioral interventions and the use of functional analyses to determine causes of pathological behavior.
For more information about Dr. Farmer-Dougan click here.
Paul A. Garris - Function & Regulation of Dopaminergic Neurons
Dr. Garris is a neurobiologist with a specific interest in dopamine neurons. Dopamine neurons play a critical role in motor control, motivation and cognition. In humans, dysfunction of dopamine neurons leads to the pathologies of Parkinson’s disease, drug addiction and schizophrenia. Garris’ projects range from the study of compensatory neuroadaptation in animal models of Parkinson’s disease and stroke, and investigations of the role of dopamine in sociosexual behavior to development of microsensors and microsensor instrumentation.
For more information about Dr. Garris click here.
Byron A. Heidenreich - Neuropharmacology and Neurodegenerative Diseases
Dr. Heidenreich is a psychologist whose research interests lie in the physiological correlates, bases and treatment of abnormal behavior in psychological disorders and neurological diseases. One line of research is focused at understanding the role of the neurotransmitter serotonin in regulating the activity of nerve cells in the forebrain. Anatomical, electrophysiological and pharmacological techniques are used to investigate how serotonin and the drugs that alter serotonin (including the antidepressant drugs) influence the activity of neurons in the brains of rats. A second area of research is aimed at understanding the processes that occur in Parkinson’s Disease, using a rat model of this disorder. This research investigates adaptation in the brain after the death of dopamine-containing neurons, prior to the display of symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease such as movement difficulties, rigidity and tremor.
For more information about Dr. Heidenreich click here.
Keith Kattner - Stroke Research
Dr. Kattner is a board-certified neurosurgeon. In addition to a variety of clinical research interests, his pre-clinical research focuses on focal cerebral ischemia and on reperfusion injury that occurs as a result of renewed perfusion to previously blood-starved brain tissue. By experimentally occluding blood flow through the middle cerebral artery of rats one can mimic the consequences of an occlusive stroke. Using this experimental stroke model, Kattner investigates the neuroprotective capacity of various compounds, their effects on post-stroke neurogenesis, and the role of edema in secondary brain injury.
For more information about Dr. Kattner click here.
Scott K. Sakaluk - Reproductive Behavior
Dr. Sakaluk is a behavioral ecologist whose current research concerns the evolution of mating preferences in insects. He is specifically interested in the evolution of substances contained in males' ejaculates and nuptial food gifts that manipulate female behavior in ways that are beneficial to males, but inimical to females' fitness interests. More recently, he has become involved in a collaborative project that is examining the extent to which the mating preferences of female birds lead to the enhanced immunocompetence and viability of their young.
For more information about Dr. Sakaluk click here.
Charles F. Thompson - Fitness-related Advantages of Extra-pair Matings in Birds
Dr. Thompson is a behavioral ecologist with specific interest in the evolution of mating behavior. Application of new molecular methods has revolutionized the study of the evolution of bird behavior in natural populations. In Thompson's study system, these techniques are being used to investigate why females are frequently inseminated by males other than their social mates, resulting in broods of mixed paternity. Thompson's projects range from studies of mating behavior and maternal effects to the study of the evolution of avian life-history traits.
For more information about Dr. Thompson click here.
Laura A. Vogel - Regulation of Immune Responses
Dr. Vogel. A recipient of both the Research Initiative Award and the Teaching Initiative Award, Vogel has been successful at establishing an independent, extramurally funded research program as well as mentoring 10 M.S. students and over 20 undergraduate students. Vogel's relevant research interests include a collaborative project with Thompson and Sakaluk to investigate the link between mating behavior and immune system function in house wrens, as well as a collaborative project with Vallejo to examine the effects of opioid drugs used to treat chronic pain on immunosuppression.
For more information about Dr. Vogel click here.
Ricardo Vallejo - Pain and Immune System Interactions
Dr. Vallejo is a board certified anesthesiologist with additional academic training and practice in Immunology and Interventional Pain Medicine. In addition to a variety of clinical research interests, his pre-clinical interests focus on the effects of opiates on the immune system. Acute and chronic morphine administration produces immunosupression by decreasing lymphocyte proliferation, natural killer (NK) cell activity, macrophage function, and cytokine production. It has been shown that patients who receive morphine continuously, show less tolerance and hyperalgesia compared to those receiving intermittent large doses. As well, other medications such as serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRI’s), in conjunction with morphine may be able to reduce or alleviate the side effect of immune suppression. The countless individuals who are administered morphine or methadone for chronic pain stand to benefit greatly from a better understanding of these drugs. Vallejo’s projects range from effects of intermittent versus continuous opioid administration on cellular and humoral response, and the effects of serotonin reuptake inhibitors in the immune suppression mediated by opiates.