Advisors

Neuroscience Advisors

The following faculty, organized by department with their most recent publications listed, serve as advisors to the Neuroscience major--click on person's name to send an email. 

PSYCHOLOGY

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Lori Driscoll

Neurotoxicology: effects of prenatal and/or early postnatal exposure to environmental pollutants or other neurotoxins on cognitive and affective processes; Nutritional supplementation as a means to prevent or lessen neurotoxin-induced cognitive dysfunction; Psychopharmacology of higher cognitive functions.

Most recent publications

Driscoll, L. L., Kaplan, J., Bucuvalas, E., Allen, H., Kraut, J., & Fitzpatrick, J. (2012). Acute postnatal exposure to the pentaBDE commercial mixture DE-71 at doses of 5 or 15 mg/kg/day does not produce learning or attention deficits in rats. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 34, 20-26. pdf

Driscoll, L. L., Gibson, A. M., & Hieb, A. (2009). Chronic postnatal DE-71 exposure: Effects on learning, attention and thyroxine levels. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 31, 76-84. pdf

Moon, J., Ota, K. T., Driscoll, L. L., Levitsky, D. A., & Strupp, B. J. (2008). A mouse model of Fragile X syndrome exhibits heightened arousal and/or emotion following errors or reversal of contingencies. Developmental Psychobiology, 50, 473-485. pdf

Moon, J., Beaudin, A. E., Verosky, S., Driscoll, L. L., Weiskopf, M., Levitsky, D. A., Crnic, L. S., & Strupp, B. J. (2006). Attentional dysfunction, impulsivity, and resistance to change in a mouse model of Fragile X Syndrome. Behavioral Neuroscience, 120, 1367-1379. pdf

Dufault, C., Poles, G., & Driscoll, L. L. (2005). Brief postnatal PBDE exposure alters learning and the cholinergic modulation of attention in rats. Toxicological Sciences, 88, 172-180. pdf

Driscoll, L. L., Carroll, J. C., Moon, J., Crnic, L. S., Levitsky, D. A., & Strupp, B. J. (2004). Impaired sustained attention and error-induced stereotypy in the aged Ts65Dn mouse, a mouse model of Down syndrome and Alzheimer disease. Behavioral Neuroscience, 118, 1196-1205. pdf

Morgan, R.E., Garavan, H., Smith, E.G., Driscoll, L.L., Levitsky, D.A., & Strupp, B.J. (2001). Early lead exposure produces lasting changes in sustained attention, response initiation, and reactivity to errors. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 23, 519-531.

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Kristi Erdal

Depression and anxiety in Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disorders, malingering of neuropsychological impairment, sport psychology.

Most recent publications

Erdal, K., Singh, N., & Tardif, A. (2011). Attitudes about depression and its treatment among mental health professionals, lay persons and immigrants and refugees in Norway. Journal of Affective Disorders, 133, 481-488.doi:10.1016/j.jad.2011.04.038

Erdal, K. (2009). Why one fakes a head injury affects how one fakes a head injury. Applied Neuropsychology, 16, 42-48.

Erdal, K. (2004). The effects of motivation, coaching, and knowledge of neuropsychology on the simulated malingering of head injury. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 19(1), 73-88.

Erdal, K. (2001). Depressive symptom patterns in patients with Parkinson's disease and other older adults. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 57, 1559-1569.

Erdal, K. (2001). Depression and anxiety in Parkinson’s disease patients with and without “on-off” phenomena. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 8, 293-299.

Johnstone, B. and Erdal, K. (1995). The relationship between the WMS-R Attention Index and putative measures of attention. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 2, 195-204.

Youngjohn, J., Burrows, L., & Erdal, K. (1995). Brain damage or compensation neurosis?  The controversial post-concussion syndrome. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 9, 112-123.

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John Horner

Animal Learning and Adaptation; Neural Networks; Human Memory; Meaning and Categorization.

Most recent publications

Horner, J. M., & Tung, S. K.  (2011).  Playing cards with Thomas Kuhn: A critical reexamination of the Bruner and Postman (1949) experiment.  Review of General Psychology, 15, 175-185.

Horner, J. M. (2008). The end of psychology: What can we expect at the limits of inquiry? In N. K. Innis (Ed.) Reflections on Adaptive Behavior: Essays in Honor of J. E. R. Staddon. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Horner, J. M., & Comstock, S. P. (2005). What are the important visual features for coin discrimination? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 19,1211-1218.

Horner, J. M. (2002) Information in the behavior stream. Behavioural Processes, 58, 133-147.

Horner, J. M., Staddon, J. E. R. & Lozano, K. K. (1997). Integration of reinforcement effects over time. Animal Learning & Behavior, 25, 84-98.

Horner, J. M. (1996). If the eye were an animal… The problem of representation in understanding, meaning and intelligence. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 3, 127-38.

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Bob Jacobs

Neuroscience; Comparative Neuroanatomy; Cognitive Neuroethology; Language Acquisition; Non-Human Animal Communication;  Evolutionary Neurobiology; Neuromorphology.

Most recent publications

Maseko, B.C., Jacobs, B., Spocter, M.A., Sherwood, C.C., Hof, P.R., & Manger, P.R. (2012). Qualitative and qualitative aspects of the microanatomy of the African elephant cerebellar cortex.  Brain, Behavior & Evolution.  Doi: 10.1159/000345565  pdf

Jacobs, B., Lubs, J., Hannan, M., Anderson, K., Butti, C., Sherwood, C.C., Hof, P.R., & Manger, P.R. (2011). Neuronal morphology in the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) neocortex. Brain Structure and Function, 215, 273-298. doi: 10.1007/s00429-010-0288-3. pdf  Science announcement

Anderson, K., Yamamoto, E., Kaplan, J., Hannan, M., & Jacobs, B. (2010). Neurolucida lucivid versus Neurolucida camera: A quantitative and qualitative comparison of three-dimensional neuronal reconstructions. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 186, 209-214. doi:10.1016/ j.jneumeth.2009.11.024. pdf

Anderson, K., Bones, B., Robinson, B., Hass, C. Lee, H., Ford, K., Roberts T-A., & Jacobs, B . (2009). The morphology of supragranular pyramidal neurons in the human insular cortex: A quantitative Golgi study. Cerebral Cortex, 19 ,2131-2144. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhn234. pdf

Travis, K., Ford, K., & Jacobs, B. (2005). Regional dendritic variation in neonatal human cortex: A quantitative Golgi study. Developmental Neuroscience, 27, 277-287. pdf

Jacobs, B. Creswell, J., Britt. J.P., Ford, K.L., Bogen J.E., & Zaidel, E. (2003). Quantitative analysis of cortical pyramidal neurons following corpus callosotomy. Annals of Neurology, 54, 126-130.  pdf

Jacobs, B., & Scheibel, A.B. (2002). Regional dendritic variation in primate cortical pyramidal cells. In A. Schüz & R. Miller, Cortical areas: Unity and diversity (Conceptual advances in brain research series; pp. 111-131). London: Taylor & Francis.  pdf

Jacobs, B., Schall, M., Prather, M., Kapler, L., Driscoll, L., Baca, S., Jacobs, J., Ford, K., Wainwright, M. & Treml, M. (2001). Regional dendritic and spine variation in human cerebral cortex: A quantitative Golgi study. Cerebral Cortex, 11, 558-571. pdf

 

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BIOLOGY

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Ralph Bertrand

Population and developmental genetics; mutagenesis for the identification of genes involved in maize leaf development; STR and Alu DNA analysis to study human population genetics.

Most recent publications

Lacau, H., Gayden, T., Chennakrishnaiah, S., Bukhari, A., Regueiro, M., Arce, V., Underhill, P.A., Garcia-Bertrand, R-L.,& Rene J Herrera, R. J. (submitted).  High resolution Y-chromosome analysis of a Pathan population from Afghanistan reveals a strong South Siberian and South Central Asian influences, European J. Genetics.

Mirabal, S., K. J. Herrera, T. Gayden, M. Regueiro, P.A. Underhill, Garcia-Bertrand, R-L., & Herrera, R.J. (2012).  Increased Y-chromosome resolution of haplogroup O suggests genetic ties between the Ami aborigines from Taiwan and the Polynesian Islands of Samoa and Tonga.  Gene, 492, 339-348.

Regueiro, M., S. Mirabal, H. Lacau, J., Caeiro, R. Garcia-Bertrand,R-L., & Herrera, R.J. (2008). Austronesian genetic signature in East African Madagascar and Polynesia. J. Human Genetics, 53, 106-120.

Chow, R. A., Caeiro, J. , Chen,S-J., Garcia-Bertrand, R-L., & Herrera, R.J. (2005). On the Source of the Austroneian Expansion. J. Human Genetics, 50, 550-559.

Shepard, E. M., Chow, R. A. , Suafo’a, E., Addison, D., Perez-Miranda, A.M., Bertrand-Garcia, R-L., & Herrera, R.J.  (2005). Autosomal STR Variation in Five Austronesian Populations. Human Biology, 77, 825-851.

Sewerin, B., Cuza, F., Szmulewicz, M., Rowold, D., Bertrand-Garcia, R-L., &. Herrera, R.J. (2002). On the Genetic Uniqueness of the Ami Aborigines of Formosa.  J. of Physical Anthropology 119, 240-248.

 

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Nancy Huang

Embryonic development of the nematode C. elegans; Translational regulation of maternally provided mRNAs; RNA inhibition (RNAi).

Most recent publications

Huang, N. N. & Hunter, C.P. (in preparation for Development). Distinct protein domains regulate stability and patterning of MEX-3 in the C. elegans embryo.

Huang, N. N., Mootz, D. E., Walhout, A. J. M., Vidal, M., and Hunter, C. P. (2002). MEX-3 interacting proteins link cell polarity to asymmetric gene expression in Caenorhabditis elegans.  Development, 129, 747-59.  pdf

 

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Darrell Killian

Dendrite morphogenesis in C. elegans, cell cycle and sex determination; more information here.

Most recent publications

Killian, D.J., Harvey, E., Johnson, P., Kim, J., Gold, C.,  & Xue, D. (in preparation).  tra-5, a novel gene, regulates her-1 to promote hermaphrodite development in C. elegans.

Killian, D.J., Harvey, E., Johnson, P., Otor,i M., Mitani, S., & Xue, D. (2008). SKR-1, a homolog of Skp1 and a member of the SCF^SEL-10 complex, regulates sex-determination and LIN-12/Notch signaling in C. elegans.  Developmental Biology, 322, 322-331.

Peden, E., Killian, D.J., & Xue, D. (2008). Cell death specification in C. elegans.  Cell Cycle, 7, 2479-2484.

Voutev, R., Killian, D.J., Ahn, J.H., & Hubbard, E.J. (2006).  Alterations in ribosome biogenesis cause specific defects in C. elegans hermaphrodite gonadogenesis.  Developmental Biology, 298, 45-58.

Killian, D.J. & Hubbard, E.J.A. (2005). Caenorhabditis elegans germline patterning requires coordinated development of the somatic gonadal sheath and the germline.  Developmental Biology, 279, 322-335.

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CHEMISTRY and BIOCHEMISTRY

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Margaret Daugherty

In vitro investigation (using thermodynamic and biochemical studies) of (i) issues relating to transcriptional regulation in C. elegans including investigation of MEX-3 interactions with its cognate RNA binding site; MEX-3/MEX-5 interactions; effect of MEX-5 on MEX-3 – RNA interactions, and (ii) issues relating to enzymatic utilization of cyanide as a source of metabolic nitrogen in P. fluorescens.

Most recent publications

J.E. Whittington, R.F.Degadillo, T.J. Attebury, L.K. Parkhurst, M.A. Daugherty and L.J. Parkhurst. (2008). TATA-Binding Protein Recognition and Bending of a Consensus Promoter are Protein Species Dependent. Biochemistry, 47, 7264-73.

Mason, A.B., Judson, G.L., Bravo, M.C., Edelstein, A., Byrne, S.L., James, N.G., Roush, E.D. and Fierke, C.A. and Daugherty, M.A.  (2008). Evolution reversed:  The ability to bind iron restored to the N-lobe of murine inhibitor of mouse carbonic anhydrase by strategic mutagenesis. Biochemistry, 4, 9487-95.

Ramsey, J.E., Daugherty, M.A. and Kelm, R.J. (2007). Hydrodynamic Studies on the Quaternary Structure of Recombinant Mouse Purb. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 282, 1552-1560.

Ivancic, M., Spuches, A-M, Guth,E., Daugherty, M.A. Wilcox, D and Lyons B.A. (2005). Backbone Nuclear Relaxation  Characteristics and colorimetric Investigation of the Human Grb7-SH2/erbB2 Peptide Complex. Protein Science, 14, 1556-1569.

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