Cognitive Neuroscience

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Professor, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Dalhousie University

EDUCATION:
• AB, Harvard University (1974)
• PhD, University of Pennsylvania (1987)
• Vet MD, University of Pennsylvania (1979)

MEMBERSHIPS/AWARDS:
• Part of the 2010 CAN National Program Committee
• Member of the European light microscopy initiative

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
We study the cellular, molecular and network processes through which the brain processes and stores information. Our approach is interdisciplinary, examining mechanisms that operate at a variety of levels. Most of our effort, however, involves experimental studies of synaptic signalling and plasticity. We use advanced optical methods including fluorescent ion and voltage indicators in conjunction with multiphoton-, confocal- and fast CCD-imaging to investigate neurotransmission at individual synapses in brain tissue. In this way, we discovered that single synaptic activation evokes calcium-induced calcium release (CICR) from internal stores within spines.