Research Interests:

Mammalian embryonic development, mouse molecular genetics.

Student Projects:

Identification of genes involved in neural crest development; expression and functional analysis of transcription factors and signaling pathways that play a role in melanocyte and Schwann cell development.

Representative Papers:

Pigment Cell Research 12:13-21

Nature Gen.  18: 60-64

Research Interests:

Animal communication from evolution to molecules, focusing on electric fish and songbirds (behavior, ecology, endocrinology, evolution, neurobiology, physiology).

Student Projects:

Reproductive behavior, signaling, and mate choice in electric fish; Effects of electric waveform on active electrolocation; Spectral tuning of sensory brain maps; Regulation of ion channel distribution in electricity-producing tissues; Endocrine regulation and energetics of electric signal waveforms; Estimation of auditory distance in songbirds

Link to Publication List:

http://www.fiu.edu/~stoddard/pkspapers.html

Douglas Wartzok

Research Interests:
Neuromuscular reinnervation/regeneration; neural-immune interactions; neurodegeneration/neuroprotection, using rodents as study models.

Student Projects:
Assessing therapeutic physical activity effectiveness in restoring function in rats with traumatic neuropathies; Identifying chemokine receptors in cultured rat brain cells; Assessing in rats, relationships in thyroid hormone receptor and corticosterone receptor expression and the regenerating sciatic nerve (correlated with age and gender); Assessing in mice, lithium as a potential neuroprotective therapeutic agent for spatial memory diseases, as well as its potential in enhancing learning.

Representative Papers:
J Neurovirol 6:202-220
Nutrition 15:140-144

Research Interests:
Behavioral and physiological ecology of marine mammals; sensory systems involved in under-ice navigation by seals; development of techniques to study marine mammals in their natural environment; psychophysiolgical studies of captive marine mammals.

Student Projects:
Vocalizations, behavior, and sex hormones in captive spotted seals; ringed seal under-ice movements, behavior and habitat utilization; comparisons of peripheral auditory structures in odontocetes: implications for high frequency hearing strategies; three-dimensional diving behavior of ringed seals

Representative Papers:
Animal Behavior 62(1):67-72 (2001)
Canadian Journal of Zoology 79(8):1455-1464 (2001)
Marine Mammal Science 17(4):909-925 (2001)  
Marine Mammal Science 18(1):55-68 (2002)