Retired Distinguished Professor, Biology, College of Arts & Sciences
Faculty Affiliate, Aging Studies Institute
Faculty Affiliate, Center for Aging and Policy Studies
CAPS Biography:
I have been studying mechanisms of memory formation throughout my career with particular attention to regulation of memory processing by hormones, neurotransmitters, and energy substrates, since ~1973. In addition to pharmacological manipulations, this lab has developed methods for using microdialysis, coupled to offline HPLC methods, to measure neurotransmitter release in awake freely moving rats and mice while they navigated through learning tasks, such as mazes. More recently, we developed and applied bioprobe methods to study brain extracellular glucose and lactate concentrations in laboratory rodents. Using these methods, we have measured changes in extracellular lactate levels, derived mainly from astrocytes, during learning and memory tests and during food restriction and replenishment, together with measures of blood glucose and lactate levels. We have also recently developed methods for microdialysis measurements of changes in extracellular brain levels of estradiol and of BDNF and other proteins of comparable size. My research has included considerable interest in age-related changes in learning and memory, beginning with NIA funding in 1978 and continuing to a current NIA grant on which I am co-I. During that time, my lab showed rapid forgetting in aged rats, full rescue of age-related learning and memory impairments with glucose treatments administered near training in aged rodents, and enhancement of memory in humans with oral glucose administration, including healthy elderly individuals and those with Alzheimer’s disease. This productive line of aging research in my laboratory is related to the CAPS signature theme of health and well-being.
Degree(s):
B.A., University of Michigan
Ph.D., University of North Carolina
