Graduate Programs in the Life Sciences

Research Focus

The goal of my research program is to show how phenotypic variation in vertebrate brain organization leads to adaptive behavioral phenotypes. It is in this context that I use sound-producing/ vocalizing teleost fish as model systems to establish the operating principles of the vocal and auditory systems of vertebrates because (1) vocal stimuli dominate their sensory “scene”, (2) their vocal signals are simple in comparison to other vertebrates which leads, in turn, to an ease of design and manipulation of a behaviorally-relevant stimulus for neurophysiological studies, and (3) the recent delineation of a small number of neuronal populations permits us to directly relate neural mechanisms for hearing and sound production to a small repertoire of natural vocal signals. Given the historical perspective that the most fundamental mechanisms of vertebrate hearing and vocalization originated among fishes, the potential impact of such studies on our general understanding of the evolution, development and adaptive modification of auditory, vocal and audio-vocal mechanisms is tremendous. To accomplish our research goals, we use a multidisciplinary research approach that includes in vivo and in vitro neurophysiology combined with anatomical tract tracing, neuroendocrinology, electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry, cloning of steroid receptors and ion channels, and in situ hybridization.