Petra Telgkamp
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Chicago, 2000
201 Giltner Hall
Office Telephone: 517-353-8636
telgkamp@msu.edu
Neural Networks and Behavior, Neuromodulation, Plasticity, Physiology and Evolution
Research in my laboratory focuses on the investigation of neuronal networks underlying behavior. I am specifically interested in identifying mechanisms that allow those neural networks to adapt their patterns of activities during different behaviors.
In my current projects I use the weakly electric fish Apteronotus leptorhynchus as a model system. Weakly electric fish generate electric fields via electric organ discharges (EODs) to electrolocate and to communicate with other conspecifics. These EODs are species- and sex specific. EODs undergo short-term modulations during courtship and aggression. I focus on the study of two nuclei within in the well-characterized brain circuitry: the pacemaker nucleus, where the EOD is generated, and the pre-pacemaker nucleus, a nucleus that induces short-term modulations of the EOD. Using comparative histological as well as electrophysiological techniques and in vitro preparations, I am studying the role neuromodulators play in the sex-specificity of this electric behavior.
Representative Publications
Telgkamp P., N. Combs, G.T. Smith. In press. Serotonin in a diencephalic nucleus controlling communication in an electric fish: Sexual dimorphism and relationship to indicators of dominance. J.Neurobiol.
Telgkamp P., D.E. Padgett, V.A. Ledoux, C.S. Woolley, and I.M. Raman. 2004. Maintenance of high-frequency inhibitory transmission at Purkinje to cerebellar nuclear synapses by spillover from boutons with multiple release sites. Neuron, 41:113-26.
Telgkamp P., Y.Q. Cao, A,U, Basbaum, and J.M. Ramirez. 2002. Long-term deprivation of substance P in PPT-A mutant mice alters the anoxic response of the isolated respiratory network. Journal of Neurophysiology, 88: 206-213.