Systems & Behavioral Neuroscience @ UVa

Our lab is involved in studying the development of the brain. We always have a number of projects underway, with a focus on understanding the development of the ventral forebrain. Much of our work centers on studies of the development of the olfactory system, as its strict organization makes it easy to use in order to examine the normal rules of growth. Since it is a portion of a sensory system, its function is quite easy to manipulate.

The black and white drawing at left is a picture of several of the places we have examined. At the top (the portion shaped like a mushroom cap) is the olfactory bulb, the area of the brain that receives input from olfactory sensory neurons in the nasal cavity.

We have examined many different aspects of bulb development, including gene expression, protein synthesis, metabolism, neuronal development, the expression of various neurophenotypes, physiological activity, the development of blood vessels, patterns of cell death, etc. The portion below the bulb, the “olfactory peduncle”, contains the second order processing station, also known as the “anterior olfactory nucleus”. It is a fascinating region that has received very little attention.

We have examined a number of topics. Some of them include:

1) The role of function in the development of the olfactory system

2) How innervation patterns influences brain development

3) Evolutionary differences in patterns of brain development.

Over the years we have examined several species of fish, Monodelphis domestica (the grey, short-tailed opossum, a marsupial from Brazil), Acomys cahirinus (the “spiny mouse” from the Sinai desert) and lab mice.