Nicholas James Strausfeld

Regents Professor

 

Education

 

University College London UK             B.Sc.                1961-65                       Zoology

University College London UK             Ph.D.               1965-68                       Neurophysiology

University of Frankfurt, West Germany Postdoctoral     1969                            Sensory Physiology      

University of Frankfurt West Germany  Habilitation       1985                            Zoology

 

Positions and Honors

 

Positions

 

 

1970-75           Tenured Staff Scientist, Max-Planck-Institüt for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, West Germany

1975-86           Group Leader, with tenure, Neurobiology Group, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, West Germany

1987-               Professor of Neurobiology, Arizona Research Laboratories Division of Neurobiology, University of Arizona, Tucson

 

Other Experience

 

1988-2000       Member Editorial Board, Cell and Tissue Research

1995-2000       Member Editorial Board, Journal of Comparative Neurology

1999                                Member Editorial Board, Brain Behavior and Evolution

2000                Coordinating Editor, Arthropod Structure and Development

1990-1995       Member, Neural Systems and Behavior Review Panel, National Science Foundation

1997-2000       Member, Bioinformatics Review Panel, National Science Foundation

1995-               US Coordinator of the NSF sponsored Drosophila Brain Database FLYBRAIN.

 

Honors

 

1968                Fellow;  Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

1994                Fellow;  John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

1995                Fellow;  John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

1999                                Regents’ Professor, University of Arizona

2000                                Alexander von Humboldt Forschungs Preis

2002                Elected Fellow of the Royal Society

 

Selected peer-reviewed publications in chronological order (75 total)

 

Strausfeld, N. J. (1998) Crustacean - Insect Relationships: The Use of Brain Characters to Derive Phylogeny amongst Segmented Invertebrates. Brain, Behavior, and Evolution. 52:186-206

Ito, K, Suzuki, K., Estes, P., Ramaswami, M., Yamamoto, D., and N. J. Strausfeld. (1998) The Organization of extrinsic neurons and their implications in the functional roles of the mushroom bodies in Drosophila melanogaster Meigen. Learning and Memory. 5:52-77.

Strausfeld, N.J., Li, Y., Gomez, R., and K. Kei Ito. (1998) Evolution, discovery, and interpretations of Arthropod mushroom bodies. Learning and Memory. 5:11-37

conservation and variation in dipteran visual systems.

Douglass. J. K., and N. J. Strausfeld (1998) Functionally and anatomically segregated visual pathways in the lobula complex of a calliphorid fly. J. Comp. Neurol. 396: 84-104.

Mizunami, M, Okada R, Li Y-S, and N. J. Strausfeld (1998) Mushroom bodies of the cockroach: activity and identities of neurons recorded in freely moving animals. J Comp Neurol 402:501-519.

Mizunami, M, Weibrecht J. M., and N. J. Strausfeld (1998) Mushroom bodies of the cockroach: their participation in place memory. J Comp Neurol 402:520-537.

Strausfeld NJ, Hildebrand JG.(1999)  Olfactory systems: common design, uncommon origins? Curr Opin Neurobiol. 9:634-639.

Strausfeld NJ and YS Li (1999a) Representation of the calyces in the medial and vertical lobes of cockroach mushroom bodies. J Comp Neurol. 409:626-646.

Strausfeld NJ and YS Li (1999b) Organization of olfactory and multimodal afferent neurons supplying the calyx and pedunculus of the cockroach mushroom bodies. J Comp Neurol. 409:603-625.

Li YS, and NJ Strausfeld (1999) Multimodal efferent and recurrent neurons in the medial lobes of cockroach mushroom bodies. J Comp Neurol. 409:647-663.

Wicklein, M and N. J., Strausfeld (2000) organization and significance of neurons that detect change of visual depth in the hawk moth Manduca sexta. J. Comp. Neurol 424:356-376.

Strausfeld NJ, Homberg U, and P Kloppenburg (2000) Parallel organization in honey bee mushroom bodies by peptidergic Kenyon cells. J Comp Neurol. 424:179-195.

Campbell, H. R. and Strausfeld, N. J. (2001). Learned discrimination of pattern orientation in walking flies. JEB 204, 1-14

Strausfeld NJ (1999) A brain region in insects that supervises walking. Progress in Brain Research 123. 274-284

Douglass J. K. and N. J. Strausfeld (2000a) Optic flow representation in the optic lobes of Diptera: modeling the role of T5 directional tuning properties. J. Comp. Physiol. 186. 783-797

Douglass JK, Strausfeld NJ (2000b) Optic flow representation in the optic lobes of Diptera: modeling innervation matrices into collators and their evolutionary implications. J. Comp. Physiol. 186. 799-811

Jablonski P, Strausfeld NJ (2000) Exploitation of an ancient escape circuit by an avian predator: prey sensitivity to model predator display in the field. Brain Behav. Evol. 56:94-106

Sinakevitch I, Farris SM, Strausfeld NJ (2001) Taurine-, aspartate- and glutamate-like immunoractivity identifies chemically distinct subdivisions of Kenyon cells in the cockroach mushroom body. J Comp. Neurol 439:352-367.

Farris SM, Strausfeld NJ (2001) Development of laminar organization in the mushroom bodies of the cockroach: Kenyon cell proliferation, outgrowth, and maturation. J Comp Neurol 439:331-351

Jablonski PG, Strausfeld NJ. 2001. Exploitation of an Ancient Escape Circuit by an Avian Predator: Relationships between Taxon-Specific Prey Escape Circuits and the Sensitivity to Visual Cues from the Predator. Brain Behav Evol. 58:218-240.

 

 

Ongoing research support

 

NIH 2 P01 NS28495                                                                                                               04/01/01-03/31/06

(Drs. R.B. Levine PI, with L. Tolbert, L. Restifo, L. Oland, and N. Strausfeld co-PIs)  

PPG: “Neural Development: Intercellular and Humoral Control”

Project 1 “Developmental of a Learning and Memory Center”

This project investigates the development of learning and memory centers in the insect brain.

 

NSF DBI-9723657 (N. Strausfeld, PI)                                                                                     09/01/97-8/31/02

“Interactive Insect Neuroanatomy Database for the World Wide Web”

This project develops and implements a searchable database of the Drosophila brain for the World Wide Web.

 

NIH 5 R01 RR08688 (N. Strausfeld, PI)                                                                                  09/01/97-08/31/02

“Neurobiology of Simple Oculomotor System” 

This project investigates the functional orgnaization of the insect visual system.

 

ONR N68936-00-2-0002 (N. Strausfeld; C. Higgins, co-PIs)                                                  01/01/00-12/31/03

“Analysis of Insect Visual Motion Processing and it's Application to a Biomimetic Navigation and Tracking System”

This project in collaboration with Dr. Charles Higgins (ECE, U of A) investigates the orgnaization of circuits underlying visual motion discrimination.                                                                   

 

SC-25627-1374-03 (N. Strausfeld, PI)                                                                                    01/01/02-11/30/02

“Structural and Electronmicroscopical Studies”

This project is a STTR in collaboration with Physical Sciences Inc, to investigate neural circuitry at the most peripheral level of the insect visual system.

 

HFSP RG0143/2000-B                                                                                                           05/01/99-4/30/03

(T. Préat (France), M. Heisenberg (Germany), A. Mercer (New Zealand), N. Strausfeld, co-PIs)

“Molecular and Systems Analysis of a Multimodal Brain Center”

Human Science Frontiers Project with 3 others. This project investigates the neural, genetic, and molecular mechanisms underlying the functional orgnaization of learning and memory centers in insects.

 

Completed Research Support

 

NIH NCRR RO1 08688 (N. Strausfeld, PI)                                                                             09/01/92-08/31/97

“Neurobiology of a simple oculomotor system”

This project investigated the functional organization of the insect visual system with emphasis on its descending premotor pathways.