18. GOALSFORFELLOWSHITPRAININGANDCAREERMy career goal is a faculty position at an undergraduate teaching and research institution. I anticipate a research career studying neural circuits subserving motor production of vocal communication in vertebrates. These studies would involve examination of 1) the ana- tomical and electrophysiological organization of vocal motor circuits, 2) vocal motor coding in the firing patterns of neurons in these circuits, and 3) behaviorally-relevant forms of modulation and plasticity in vocal circuits. The research project proposed here will complement my graduate research in the avian song system to prepare me to fulfill these goals. Specifically, I will gain the ability to characterize the activity of vocal neurons in vivo, both extra- and intracellularly, which will build on my previous experience with in vitro intracellular recording. This will allow me to more explicitly study vocal motor coding and modula- tion in actively vocalizing animals. Second, I will gain valuable comparative knowledge of vocal p/tttern generation in a non-avian vertebrate, a teleost fish. Third, I will gain a working knowledge of brain organization among teleost fishes and, more generally, among non-avian vertebrates. li_'l_k1 li 19. NAMEAND DEGREE(S)Andrew H. Bass, BA, MS, PhD 20. POSITION/RANK Professor, Neurobiology & Behavior, Comell University 211 RESEARCH INTERESTS/AREAS 'Animal communication, especially the neurobiology of the production and encoding of vocal signals; evolution and sexual differentiation of brain and behavior. :I_k'l _._t_-11,|1II '.1_[ l '.,[lff.'f-'t 221 DESCRIPTZO(NDonotexceed space provided) The central goal of the research here is to understand how the vertebrate brain is able to produce an enormous repertoire of vocal Communication signals. The brain circuitry underlying vocalization is highly conserved across vertebrates, including teleost fish. This work uses midshipman fish as a model system to examine, for the first time, vocal motor patterning in midbrain vocal circuits and the modulation of such patterning by the neuropeptide arginine-vasotocin (AVT). AVT is potently involved in regulating social behavior across species. Midshipman, in turn, are wholly dependent on social interactions mediated by vocal communication for successful reproduction. Precisely regulated vocal output is critical for proper communication, in this species and many others, including ourselves. Here, extra- and intracellular recordings will be used to characterize relationships between the firing patterns of single midbrain neurons mad vocal output. AVT and AVT antagonists delivered locally within the brain modulate evoked vocal output; recordings of midbrain neuronal activity will delineate how modulation of such activity by AVT effects changes in vocal output. Finally, AVT and AVT antagonists will be delivered to vocal brain areas in behaving fish to determine precisely how AVT modulates natural vocalizations. Because the midbrain circuits studied here are conserved across vertebrate species, as is also AVT, this work promises to inform a larger understanding of neural mechanisms of vocal communication. PHS 416-1 (Rev. 12/98) Form Page 2 BI_ cc NAME (Last, first, middle initial) Individual NRSA Application Table of Contents ========================================Section End===========================================
| Kittelberger, J Matthew; Bass, Andrew H (2013) Vocal-motor and auditory connectivity of the midbrain periaqueductal gray in a teleost fish. J Comp Neurol 521:791-812 |
| Kittelberger, J Matthew; Land, Bruce R; Bass, Andrew H (2006) Midbrain periaqueductal gray and vocal patterning in a teleost fish. J Neurophysiol 96:71-85 |
