Peter C. Brunjes

    Commonwealth Professor of Psychology

Research Interest

My lab has been involved in using the olfactory system as a model for understanding general issues in brain development. Current work focuses on two animal species (rats, and the Brazilian grey, short-tailed opossum Monodelphis domestica). We are examining a number of topics, including the role of afferent activity in brain development, the morphogenesis of the primary central relay in this sensory modality, the olfactory bulb, interactions between the olfactory bulb and higher brain regions, and the developmental events that determine what tissues will become a portion of the olfactory system.

Representative Recent Publications

1. Couper, Leo, J.M., Devine A.M., and Brunjes, P.C. Focal denervation alters cellular phenotypes and survival in the developing rat olfactory bulb. Journal of Comparative Neurology. 417, 325-336, 2000

2. Wilson, D.A., Best, A.R., and Brunjes, P.C. Trans-neuronal modification of anterior piriform cortical circuitry in the rat. Brain Research 853, 317-322, 2000

3. Poling, K.R. and Brunjes, P.C., Sensory deafferentation and olfactory bulb morphology in the zebrafish and related species. Brain Research, 21, 135-144, 2000

4. Fiske, B.K. and Brunjes, P.C., Microglia activation and the developing rat olfactory bulb. Neuroscience 96, 807-815, 2000.

5. Couper Leo, J.M., Devine, A.M., and Brunjes, P.C. Focal denervation alters cellular phenotypes and survival in the developing rat olfactory bulb: developmental analysis. J. Comp. Neurol. 425, 409-421, 2000.

6. Fiske, B.K., and Brunjes, P.C. Cell death in the developing and sensory deprived rat olfactory bulb. Journal of Comparative Neurology 431, 311-319, 2001

7. Fiske, B.K. and Brunjes, P.C. NMDA receptor regulation of cell death in the rat olfactory bulb. Journal of Neurobiology 47, 223-232, 2001

8. Mirich, J.M., and Brunjes, P.C. Activity modulates neuronal proliferation in the developing olfactory epithelium. Developmental Brain Research 127: 77-80, 2001

9. Byrd, C.A., and Brunjes, P. C. Neurogenesis in the olfactory bulb of adult
zebrafish. Neuroscience 105, 793-801, 2001.

10. Mirich, J.M., Williams, N. C., Berlau, D. J., and Brunjes, P. C. A comparative study of the aging mouse olfactory bulb. J. Comp. Neurol., 454, 361-372, 2002.


For more information email brunjes@virginia.edu.