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Name, Field, Position, Department, and Keyword |
Faculty associated with: Ashok Gopinath, Eric Williams Keywords: Axon guidance (3), Cell and Molecular Neuroscience (23), Development (21), Genetics (9), Mouse (11), Neurogenesis (7), Olfaction (11), Sensorimotor Systems (11) My lab is interested in the development of the mouse olfactory system. How are millions of olfactory sensory neurons in the nose able to find their appropriate targets in the olfactory bulb? We use molecular and genetic tools to understand this process of axon guidance and target recognition. The olfactory system is also one of the few systems that undergo regeneration in the adult animal. Are the same mechanisms and molecules used during regeneration as during development? By understanding this process in the embryo may provide insight into how regeneration is maintained during adulthood. |
Faculty Keywords: Cell and Molecular Neuroscience (23), Development (21), Drosophila (4), Genetics (9) One of two project areas in my lab is related to neuroscience. In this project we study molecules that modulate the reproductive capacity of mated female animals. We use Drosophila as a model for our studies, because of the genetic/genomic analyses it permits. In Drosophila, as in other animals with internal fertilization, males donate sperm and seminal fluid proteins to females during mating. In Drosophila females, seminal proteins (called ÏAcpsÓ for male ACcessory gland Proteins) stimulate egg production and ovulation, alter female mating behavior to decrease remating, aid in sperm storage, and affect the females' longevity. The ~80 Acps include peptide hormones (or their precursors), proteolysis regulators and other enzymes, protective peptides (e.g. antimicrobial peptides) and proteins (e.g. thioredoxin), and sperm- management proteins. We are identifying and characterizing the functions and targets of Acps, and the responses of females (at the molecular level) to these proteins. Our neuroscience-related work presumes that modulation of muscle contraction underlie some Acp effects such as ovulation, egg deposition, the movement of sperm into storage and their retention there. We tested whether mating or Acps affect vesicle release in the Drosophila female reproductive tract, by using a GFP-tagged vesicle protein, pro-ANF-EMD, that accumulates at nerve termini when expressed under the control of the elav promoter (fly line provided by D. Deitcher, Cornell NBB). When vesicles release pro-ANF-EMD, its fluorescence intensity drops. We used this system to assess vesicle release in the reproductive tracts of females that had mated to normal males or to males lacking Acps and/or sperm. We found that vesicle release is modulated in the reproductive tract after mating, and some of that modulation depends on Acps. Different regions of the reproductive tract respond independently and at different times. For example, 20 minutes after mating vesicle release is triggered at nerve termini in the lower reproductive tract, by the physical act of mating (not by Acps). Later, at the time of maximal ovulation and sperm storage, Acps inhibit vesicle release in the upper reproductive tract (sperm storage organs, oviducts). Our longterm aim is to identify the neuromodulators within these vesicles, and to correlate their release with Acp signaling (on the one hand) and the consequent response by the female (on the other hand). |
Post-Doc associated with: Dave M. Lin Keywords: Cell and Molecular Neuroscience (23), Development (21), Mouse (11), Olfaction (11) My work involves trying to identify molecules and processes in the olfactory epitheleum that affect (i) Axon Guidance (ii) Gene Expression of olfactory receptors Our lab uses the mouse as a model system to understand the biology behind these events. Until now, my research has been limited to the screening of several putative axon guidance molecules (involved in other axon guidance events in other systems), and assaying for odorant receptor expression profiles. The primary means to do this is by RNA in-situ hybridization on serial sections of the nose of mice at various stages. More broadly, I envisage to exploit rapidly developing technologies like DNA micro-array technology, and perhaps some proteomic assays, to understand the role of individual molecules in the context of the several other molecules likely to have a role in these events. |
Faculty Keywords: Behavioral genetics (7), Cell and Molecular Neuroscience (23), Development (21), Drosophila (4), Genetics (9), Neuroendocrinology (7), Neuroethology (24), Neuromodulation (12), Systems Neuroscience (25) I am interested in the neural and genetic control of behavior. The main project in the lab is understanding the mechanisms that controls ecdysis, the behavior that allows insects to shed their old cuticle. Insect growth occurs through multiple stages. At the end of each stage the animal molts and produces a new cuticle for the next stage. The molt culminates with ecdysis, the shedding of the old cuticle. The occurrence of ecdysis is tightly regulated, both by development, as well as by the biological clock (at adult emergence). Both its timing as well as its execution is controlled by a number of interacting neuropeptide hormones. Thus, ecdysis behavior is a good model system for understanding how behavior is coordinated with development, how neuropeptides and neurohormones regulate behavior, and how the circadian (biological) clock causes behaviors to be express a circadian rhythmicity. Most of our work is carried out using Drosophila, taking advantage of the genetic and molecular tools available in this organism to identify components involved in the control of ecdysis behavior, and determine their role in vivo. We also use other insect species to examine how the control of this behavior has changed during insect evolution. Also visit my Research/Photo Gallery entry |
Please report corrections, questions, comments, and problems to: Lori Miller (lmm8 AT cornell.edu)