Her major research interests are centered on understanding the fundamental mechanisms operating during the development of neurons in the CNS and how these processes may be reexpressed in young neurons responding to injury or disease. The model used is the developing central vestibular system, and the techniques applied are state-of-the-art structural and electrophysiological methods. Specific projects include characterizing the onset and emergence of potassium currents and excitability in developing vestibular nuclei neurons, developmental change in synaptic transmission between first- and second-order vestibular neurons, the ionic membrane and synaptic conductances underlying vestibular compensation, the localization and colocalization of glutamate immunoreactivity for NMDA and AMPA receptor subunits during vestibular development and during vestibular compensation, and electrotonic transmission between developing sensory neurons. The techniques used include electrophysiological recordings on brain slices of chick embryos and newborn animals using both voltage- and current-clamp recordings with patch electrodes and intracellular current-clamp recordings with sharp electrodes, pharmacological testing with blocking agents for neurotransmitters and ionic currents, dye coupling studies, light and ultrastructural immunocytochemistry using immunoperoxidase and immunogold labeling with rapid freezing techniques. This work is supported by the National Institute for Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders (NIDCD, NIH).
Cell and Tissue Biology, Neurobiology,