Duncan Leitch

A fundamental unanswered question of neuroscience is the specific identification of the neural correlates of behavior. Drawing from my graduate and postdoctoral experiences, my lab integrates classical neuroethological/ behavioral methods with modern cellular and molecular techniques to pursue new questions of nervous system adaptation, physiology, and evolution. My long-term research goals focus on combining comparative genetic, functional, and behavioral approaches to understand the diversity and evolution of vertebrate nervous systems with an initial exploration of the lateral line-mediated senses as window to examine these topics. I am fascinated by the distinctive diversity in nervous system organization and adaptation of living vertebrates, especially in the context of appreciating the sensory worlds these organisms inhabit. The lateral line system is an ancient suite of distinct sensory organs united by shared developmental and phylogenetic origins and is found in extant fishes and aquatic amphibians. Indeed, it shares a similar developmental patterning and neural organization to more commonly appreciated vertebrate auditory system, yet the lateral line facilitates seemingly exotic sensory systems through specific sensory organs. These sense organs include flow- sensing mechanosensory neuromasts that mediate schooling, predation, and rheotaxis and electroreceptor organs that facilitate the detection of biogenic electric fields related to predation, navigation, and communication. The remarkably diverse range of vertebrates that possess the lateral line (and convergently evolved hydrodynamic sense organs) offer a unique opportunity to examine the interplay between sensory biology, nervous system organization, and ultimately, behavior.