NCSU CALS Biology - Neurobiology and Behavioral Biology Research in the NCSU Department of Biology
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Neurobiology and Behavioral Biology Research in the NCSU Department of Biology

Behavioral biologists approach the study of behavior from a variety of perspectives, including genetics, neurobiology, endocrinology, and ecology.  Together, these different approaches provide insights into why organisms do what they do.  Our faculty also study the function of the nervous system at a molecular and cellular level.  These research programs involve both laboratory studies (housed in David Clark Labs and South Gardner on the NCSU main campus) and field research (in Florida, Belize, and Trinidad and Tobago).  All of these faculty are also involved with the W.M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology at NCSU.


 
Dr. Robert Anholt (home page)
 Research interests are in the area of neurogenetics and focus on the genetic architecture of behavior, understanding the relationship between genetic networks and neural circuits that mediate behaviors, and comparative genomic models of human diseases, using Drosophila melanogaster as a genetic model.
Dr. James Gilliam (home page)
 Research interests include aquatic ecology and predator prey interactions, especially habitat selection by foragers under predation threat; modeling (optimization; behavior; population dynamics; animal dispersal); and population fragmentation and movement among local populations.
Dr. John Godwin (home page)
 Research interests include molecular endocrinology, neurobiology and behavior with a primary focus on the mechanisms and evolution of animal behavior and sexuality. Application of neurobiological and genomic approaches to problems in behavioral biology and behavioral evolution.
Dr. Robert Grossfeld (home page)
 Research interests include neuron-glia intercellular chemical signaling in the nervous system and its role in the function, development, and regeneration of the nervous system.  Application of calcium imaging to study cellular communication in real time.  Electrical, mechanical, and chemical stimuli that affect differentiation of adult neural and mesenchymal stem cells.
Dr. Heather Patisaul (home page)
 Research interests include the steroid-dependent mechanisms through which sexually dimorphic behaviors arise and the disruption of sexually dimorphic systems and behaviors by environmental estrogens.
Dr. Herb Underwood (e-mail)
 Research interests include comparative vertebrate physiology, circadian rhythms and biological clocks, photoperiodism, pineal gland function, and thermoregulation.