Faculty are listed by Department within their Research Areas,
with descriptions of their active projects.

ANATOMY AND NEUROBIOLOGY

MARK MOSS
Chairman and Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology;
PhD, Northeastern University

Research Interests: Research efforts are aimed at the investigation of the neurobiological basis of memory in humans and nonhuman primates. Studies include behavioral, neurohistochemical, and neuroanatomical assessment of the effects of basal forebrain and selected brain stem and limbic system lesions in the monkey as a working model of Alzheimer's disease and other neurologic disorders. Parallel behavioral and neuropathological studies are conducted in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

ALAN PETERS
Waterhouse Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology;
PhD, University of Bristol, England

Research Interests: Research interests are on (1) the organization, connections, and characteristics of neurons in the cerebral cortex, and (2) the effects of normal aging on the primate cerebral cortex. The techniques used include light and electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry, confocal microscopy, and stereology.

JULIE SANDELL
Associate Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology;
PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Research Interests:Normal aging produces cognitive impairment. My lab is interested in discovering the biological bases for this impairment. We use molecular biology to look for changes in gene expression in the brains and retinae of impaired animals, and we use light and electron microscopy to look for structural changes in the central nervous system that might be related to cognitive impairment. We are particularly interested in teasing apart the changes that are related to age alone from those that are related to cognitive status. Ultimately we would like to know what allows some individuals to age "successfully", while others are severely impaired. I also have long standing interests in normal and abnormal retinal anatomy, and the role of GABA in neuronal development.
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DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY

JELLE ATEMA
Professor of Biology; PhD, University of Michigan

Research Interests: Sensory Neurobiology and Behavioral Ecology: Spectral and temporal filter properties of chemoreceptor cells in different receptor organs of the lobster. High resolution measurement and models of turbulent submarine odor plumes. Chemosensory orientation behavior: "Eddy-scale chemotaxis". "Robo-lobster", autonomous underwater vehicle designed to explore neural models of chemotaxis and to locate odor and pollution sources. Chemical signals in lobster courtship behavior. Laboratory and field studies. Evolution of brains and complex behavior of invertebrates. Funded by grants from NSF, NIH. Research facilities at the Boston University Marine Program, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole.

MICHAEL J. BAUM
Professor of Biology; PhD, McGill University

Research Interests: I study the steroidal control of brain and behavioral sexual differentiation in ferrets and mice. This work employs immunocytochemistry, computer-assisted imagine analysis, radioimmunoassay of sex steroids and reproductively relevant neuropeptides, intra-cranial administration of neurotoxins, neural tract tracing compounds and other pharmacological agents, as well as the observation and registration of reproductive and olfactory behaviors.

GLORIA V. CALLARD
Professor of Biology; PhD, Rutgers University

Research Interests: Molecular and cellular physiology of aromatase (estrogen synthetase), estrogen and androgen receptors, and genomic mechanisms of steroid action in the brain, pituitary and retina; structure of the aromatase gene(s) and promoters, and transcriptional control mechanisms; regulation of the aromatization reaction; consequences of neuroestrogen formation and estrogen receptor occupancy for neural gene expression, neuronal growth and differentiation.


WILLIAM D. ELDRED
Professor of Biology; Director of the Program in Neuroscience;
Professor in the Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry
Program; Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems
Research Fellow; PhD, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center

Research Interests: We are doing multidisciplinary studies of the role of cGMP in synaptic mechanisms in retinal neurons. These studies employ immunocytochemistry, retrograde tracers, intracellular injections, pharmacology, electrophysiology, biochemistry, and image analysis at the light and electron microscopic levels. Particular emphasis is placed on regional differences in the retina and the biochemical and pharmacological mechanisms for modulating cGMP in identified neurons.

JAMES TRANIELLO
Professor of Biology; PhD, Harvard University

Research Interests: The remarkable evolutionary and ecological success of the ants is often attributed to their social organization, at the heart of which is the division of labor among workers according to their size and age. We study how behavioral variation in worker castes is related to neural polymorphism in the brain.

Darwin's sense of wonder was excited by the ant brain's capability of ”extraordinary mental activity with an extremely small absolute mass of nervous matter." We feel the same way. Our research concerns the comparative evolutionary neuroanatomy of caste and division of labor in ants and the neurochemistry of behavioral development. We use immunohistochemistry, confocal microscopy, neurohistology and image analysis to quantify age- and size-related changes in the compartments of the brain (the antennal and optic lobes and the mushroom bodies, which are the centers of sensory integration and learning) that control social behavior. Our integrative studies connect sociobiology, ecology and neuroscience to understand the selective forces that lead to the evolution of brain structure and how a miniscule brain meets the demands of processing complex information at the level of the individual and society as a whole.

AYAKO YAMAGUCHI
Assistant Professor of Biology; PhD, University of California at Davis

Research Interests: We study how the CNS generate sexually differentiated behavior using vocalization of African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) as a model. We use behavioral, electrophysiological, anatomical, histochemical, and molecular biological techniques to understand how the central vocal pathways differ between males and females, and how these differences arise in response to steroid hormones.

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DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

H. STEVEN COLBURN
Professor, Biomedical Engineering;
PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Research Interests:Dr. Colburn's research involves the application of signal processing, statistical communication theory, and computational modeling to the study of hearing and hearing impairments. He is particularly interested in the measurement and modeling of binaural hearing performance. He is also interested in human-machine interfaces for virtual environments and teleoperators.

CARLO J. DE LUCA
Director/Founder, Neuromuscular Research Center;
Professor, Biomedical Engineering; Research Professor, Neurology;
PhD, Queen's University (Canada)

Research Interests: Professor De Luca's research centers on issues dealing with rehabilitation of the physically disabled; understanding how the brain and spinal cord control the individual fibers in a muscle, and groups of muscles, in healthy as well as dysfunctioned individuals; methodologies for objectively measuring muscle fatigue during voluntary efforts; methodologies for objectively evaluating the performance of low-back muscles.

DAVID C. MOUNTAIN, Jr.
Professor, Biomedical Engineering; Associate Research Professor,
Otolaryngology, School of Medicine; PhD, University of Wisconsin

Auditory information processing, sensory biophysics, computer simulation, biomedical electronics, biomedical signal and image processing.

Research Interests: Dr. Mountain's research centers around experimental and theoretical studies of hearing function including: cochlear biomechanics, otacoustic emissions, auditory processing of complex sounds, and auditory evoked potentials. Professor Mountain also collaborates with researchers from the Boston University Marine Program who are studying olfactory physiology and behavior.

CHRISTOPHER PASSAGLIA
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering; PhD, Syracuse University

Research Interests: Dr. Passaglia studies how the eye transforms visual images into the neural signals it transmits to the brain and how target neurons in the brain process these signals. His laboratory is presently focused on quantitatively describing the receptive field properties of mammalian retinal ganglion cells in normal and diseased states and on building computer models that accurately simulate the retinal output under natural viewing conditions. Another interest of the lab is to characterize the response properties of invertebrate visual neurons, particularly those of horseshoe crabs, which mediate comparatively simple visually-guided behaviors. His research uses electrophysiological, anatomical, computational, and behavioral methods.

KAMAL SEN
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering; PhD, Brandeis University

Research Interests: Our laboratory studies the neural coding of complex vocal communication sounds in songbirds, a model system that shows striking parallels to humans. We use electrophysiological techniques to record neural responses. Theoretical methods from areas such as statistical signal processing, systems theory, probability theory and pattern recognition are applied to characterize how neurons in the brain encode natural sounds. We also use computational modeling to understand the processing of natural sounds, both at the single neuron and the network level.

LUCIA M. VAINA
Professor, Biomedical Engineering; Research Professor of Neurology,
School of Medicine; PhD, Sorbonne (France) and Doctorat D'Etat es Sciences, National Politechnique Institute-Toulouse (France)

Research Interests: The adult brain constantly adapts to changes in stimuli, and this plasticity is manifest not only as learning and memory but also as dynamic changes in information transmission and processing. The goal of research in my laboratory is to understand the mechanisms mediating human visual perception in healthy and damaged human brain,  long-term plasticity and short-term dynamics in networks of the  adult normal and damaged (from stroke) cortex by using interactively multimodal imaging (fMRI, MEG, DTI), psychophysics, and biologically constraint computational modeling. An additional facet of our research is translational,  conducted hand in hand with several neurologists and physiatrists clinicians, investigates multisensory processing for facilitating behavior and recovery in stroke patients.

HERBERT F. VOIGT
Professor, Biomedical Engineering; Associate Research Professor,
Otolaryngology, School of Medicine; PhD, Johns Hopkins University

Research Interests: Dr. Voigt is currently engaged in experimental and theoretical studies of the neuronal circuitry in the cochlear nucleus. He uses single- and multi-unit recording and analysis techniques to study the responses of neurons and neural nets to acoustic stimulation. Other interests include brainstem auditory evoked responses and neural modeling of the cochlear nucleus.


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SCIENCES

HELEN BARBAS
Professor; PhD, McGill University

Research Interests: Organization of the prefrontal cortex in primates. Research involves the use of tracers to map neural circuits associated with cognitive, mnemonic, and emotional processes. Combined histochemical, immunocytochemical, and molecular approaches are used to characterize specific receptors and intracellular markers in neurons involved in these circuits.

JUDITH SCHOTLAND
Assistant Professor; PhD, Northwestern University

Research Interests:The role of spinal neural networks in the organization of movements. Research uses complementary in vitro and in vivo neurophysiological, pharmacological, and anatomical techniques in simple vertebrate model systems to elucidate the neuronal mechanisms and networks responsible for the control of coordinated movements.

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DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

JAMES A. CHERRY
Assistant Professor; PhD, North Carolina State University

Research Interests: Molecular neurobiology: molecular mechanisms of learning, memory, and olfaction in rodents; transgenic mouse models of behavior.

HOWARD EICHENBAUM
University Professor and Director of Center for Neuroscience and the Center for Memory and Brain; PhD, University of Michigan.

Research Interests: My research involves explorations of the neural circuitry that mediates our capacities for cognition and memory. In particular, work in my lab focuses on the contributions of a system of brain structures including the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. Our approach to understanding this system entails a combination of neuropsychological testing to analyze how memory breaks down after selective damage to components of this system and electrophysiological recording to characterize how experiences are encoded by the activity patterns of neurons in these brain structures.

MICHAEL HASSELMO
Professor of Psychology; DPhil, Oxford University

Research Interests: Research in the Hasselmo laboratory focuses on physiological and computational analysis of the mechanisms of memory function in mammalian cortical circuits, including the role of activation in muscarinic acetylcholine receptors and GABAB receptors, and the role of oscillatory dynamics in the olfactory cortex and hippocampus. Students in the laboratory have the opportunity to learn a wide range of neuroscience research techniques, including electrophysiological recording from brain slice preparations of the hippocampus and piriform cortex, recordings of evoked potentials and unit activity in anesthetized and chronic preparations, detailed compartmental biophysical simulations of cortical circuits, and behavioral studies of cholinergic modulation in olfactory behavior. Articles from this laboratory have been co-authored by numerous trainees, many of whom have performed both computational modeling work and physiological research while working in the laboratory.

KATHLEEN M. KANTAK
Professor; PhD, Syracuse University

Research Interests: My research uses animal models to conduct translational research related to drug addiction, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and their co-morbidity. Using intravenous drug self-administration procedures in rats, my lab investigates how multiple memory systems regulate drug-seeking and drug-taking behavior as well as how drug exposure influences the neurocognitive functioning of multiple memory systems. In addition, we investigate how cognitive-enhancing therapeutics may be useful to facilitate extinction learning for cues predictive of drug availability and if such treatment can attenuate drug relapse. Other studies focus on evaluating neurocognitive deficits of the frontal and medial temporal lobes as well as the striatum in rats with an ADHD phenotype and their response to medications. We have begun investigating comorbidity between ADHD and vulnerability to drug addiction and to determine if medications (stimulant and non-stimulant) increase or decrease this vulnerability. In the context of all this research, I collaborate with other investigators to conduct parallel studies in non-human primates, to perform image analysis or to understand the neurochemical and molecular correlates of these disorders and their treatment.

JACQUELINE A. LIEDERMAN
Associate Professor; PhD, University of Rochester

Research Interests: Mechanisms underlying interhemispheric collaboration during information processing; endocrinological and immunological mechanisms underlying male prevalence for neurodevelopmental disorders and lefthandedness; the effects of environmental estrogens on the developing brain.
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