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Associate Professor of Zoology
Phone: (405)325-3492
Fax: (405)325-6202RM/Lab:RH102/103
Dr. Berkowitz's Web Page
Current Research Interests and Subject Areas Available for Graduate Research
How does an animal’s nervous system select and generate an appropriate behavior for each circumstance the animal faces? My research addresses this general question through neurophysiological, neuroanatomical, and pharmacological experiments on an especially suitable model system: the turtle spinal cord. The turtle spinal cord can produce three distinct types of rhythmic scratching movements of a hindlimb, each targeted to a different region of the body, as well as two types of rhythmic swimming movements of the hindlimbs. The programs for generating these movements and for “choosing” among them reside in the spinal cord: the animal can produce these movements appropriately even when all input from the brain is cut off. This means we can focus attention on a relatively small subset of the central nervous system and study the electrical activity, morphology, and pharmacology of individual spinal cord neurons, to reveal the kinds of neural circuitry that allow the spinal cord to select and generate appropriate movements.
My lab’s research currently focuses on the following questions:
1) Is the choice of each type of scratching mediated by a separate group of CNS neurons (“dedicated ciruitry”) or instead by overlapping populations of broadly tuned CNS neurons (“distributed circuitry”)?
2) Do individual CNS neurons contribute to the generation of multiple types of scratching?
3) Do individual CNS neurons contribute to the generation of scratching on both sides of the body?
4) Do individual CNS neurons contribute to the generation of both scratching and swimming?
To learn more about this research, visit Dr. Berkowitz's Web Page.
A.B., University of Chicago
Member, Oklahoma Center for Neuroscience
Selected publications:
Berkowitz, A., Yosten, G.L.C., and Ballard, R.M. (2006) Somato-dendritic morphology predicts physiology for neurons that contribute to several kinds of limb movements. J. Neurophysiol. 95:2821-2831.
Berkowitz, A. (2005) Physiology and morphology indicate that individual spinal interneurons contribute to diverse limb movements. J. Neurophysiol. 94:4455-4470.
Berkowitz, A. (2002) Both shared and specialized spinal circuitry for scratching and swimming in turtles. J. Comp. Physiol. A 188:225-234.
Berkowitz, A. (2001a) Broadly tuned spinal neurons for each form of fictive scratching in spinal turtles. J. Neurophysiol. 86:1017-1025.
Berkowitz, A. (2001b) Rhythmicity of spinal neurons activated during each form of fictive scratching in spinal turtles. J. Neurophysiol. 86:1026-1036.
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