Faculty Profiles

Tim Gardner

Tim Gardner

Assistant Professor of Biology

PhD. Rockefeller University, 2003
Neural circuits and their development – vocal learning in songbirds.
timothyg(at) bu.edu
(347) 683-7642

http://people.bu.edu/timothyg

Current Research

The Gardner lab studies how neural circuits form in the development of animal behavior. We focus on vocal learning in songbirds --- a subject that lends itself to quantitative approaches.

How do songbirds memorize the songs of other birds, and how do these memories influence their own vocal learning? Many songbirds sing fairly normally when reared in isolation, but in the right circumstances, they may also imitate external models. Song learning is therefore the result of innate programming that provides a basic outline for song, and an auditory-memory based learning that builds on the innate program. The laboratory is currently investigating the process that builds and maintains the core sequence of the song behavior.

What growth mechanisms form the core structure of song and what are the geometric properties of the resulting circuit? What features of the circuit govern the flexible ordering of song? What homeostatic mechanisms maintain the circuit, and what is the role of spontaneous neural activity in sleep? For genetically identical birds, how would song learning differ?

The lab is addressing one or more of these questions through tools including quantitative behavioral experiments and inbreeding, in-vivo imaging, electrophysiology and functional perturbation of neural activity.

Courses Taught

  • Conceptual frameworks for neural circuits

Selected Publications

  • Gardner TJ, Magnasco, MO. 2006. Sparse time-frequency representations. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 103,
    6094-6099.
  • Gardner TJ, Naef F, Nottebohm F. 2005. Freedom and rules: the acquisition and reprogramming of a
    bird's learned song. Science 308, 1046-9.
  • Gardner TJ, Magnasco, MO. 2005. Instantaneous frequency decomposition: An application to
    spectrally sparse sounds with fast frequency modulations. J.Acoust. Soc. Am. 117, 2896-2903.
  • Liu WC, Gardner TJ, Nottebohm F. 2004. Juvenile zebra finches can use multiple strategies to learn
    the same song. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 101, 18177-82.
  • Ribeiro S, Mello CV, Velho T, Gardner TJ, Jarvis ED, Pavlides C. 2002. Induction of hippocampal
    long-term potentiation during waking leads to increased extrahippocampal zif-268 expression
    during ensuing rapid-eye-movement sleep. J Neurosci. 22, 10914-23.
  • Gardner TJ, Cecchi G, Magnasco M, Laje R, Mindlin GB. 2001. Simple motor gestures for
    birdsongs. Phys Rev Lett. 87(20), 208101.

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