Paul S. Katz
Professor and Director of Neuroscience
Biology
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
United States of America
Biography
Our lab is interested in neural circuits underlying rhythmic motor behavior. We use sea slugs (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Heterobranchia, Nudipleura) because they have fairly simple brains with only 10,000 neurons and simple behaviors. The neurons are individually identifiable, allowing us to fully understand the neural mechanisms for these behaviors at the cellular level. Furthermore, because there are many species that have homologous neurons. We can compare the neural circuits in these species to learn about the evolution of neural circuits and behavior. We are also examining the development of the neural circuits to understand how homologous neurons come to differ in properties and connectivity. The lab uses a wide variety of techniques including intracellular electrophysiology, tracer staining, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, single neuron RNA-seq, bioinformatics, and computational simulations. In the future, we will examine the brain connectome with 3-D electron microscopy.
Research Interest
Evolution, Development, and Function of Neural Circuits underlying Behavior
Publications
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Sakurai, A., Newcomb, J.M., Lillvis, J.L., Katz, P.S. 2011. Different roles for homologous interneurons in species exhibiting similar rhythmic behaviors. Current Biology, 21(12): 1036-1041.
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Senatore, A., Edirisinghe, N., Katz, P.S. 2015. Deep mRNA sequencing of the Tritonia diomedea brain transcriptome provides access to gene homologues for neuronal excitability, synaptic transmission and peptidergic signalling. PLoS One, 10(2): e0118321. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0118321.
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Sakurai, A., Katz, P.S. 2015. Phylogenetic and individual variation in gastropod central pattern generators. Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 201(9): 829-39.
