Understanding the mechanisms and roles of spontaneous electrical activity in brain development is key to overall understanding of how connections among individual nerve cells are created. These connections are required for the correct functioning of the adult brain. The hindbrain contains several populations of motor neurons that control muscles serving critical functions in speech, respiration, and facial expression. Dr. Bosma's laboratory has developed methods for identifying specific hindbrain motor neurons in the early mouse embryo, and is the first to record spontaneous activity from these identified soma during the developmental stages when spontaneous activity first appears. The ability to characterize the onset, properties, and developmental functions of these cells makes this an ideal preparation in which to understand the role that spontaneous activity plays in establishing functional connections in the central nervous system and in the peripheral musculature.
Because the PI's laboratory has developed unique methods to study spontaneous activity in this preparation, the PI has already established collaborations with laboratories in the US and Europe that wish to study these questions in chick and zebrafish hindbrain. Such collaborative experiments will help advance the understanding of the evolution and genetics of activity-dependent hindbrain development. Because the PI teaches undergraduate courses in neurobiology and developmental neurobiology, the research efforts will be easily integrated into undergraduate education. In addition to other undergraduates in the lab, the PI has already sponsored three undergraduate researchers to work on this project, including one currently in the lab who is the first author on a published paper on this work. Two of these students won the University of Washington's Franco Award for best undergraduate research paper. The PI is also involved in educational outreach at the K-12 and community college level. Basic ideas of brain function and development have been incorporated into grades 1-4 hands-on classroom exercises, and the PI has obtained funds to extend that outreach to disabled students in a local K-5 special education classroom. The PI sponsors a graduate student, whose salary is included in this proposal, who is on leave from a local community college, where she teaches biology.
