Development of Neural Circuits
{'Code': '08090200', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'BIO', 'LongName': 'Direct For Biological Sciences'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'IOS', 'LongName': 'Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Christopher Comer', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
The overall objective of this project is to find and                       define the processes in the evolution of the nervous system and                 to determine the relationship between the evolutionary history                  of a structure or system to normal and abnormal development.                    The hope is that insights into the evolutionary mechanisms will                 also elucidate interspecific variability of brain organization,                 which in turn may provide structure-function correlation.  More                 importantly, the studies may elucidate what evolutionary and                    ontogenetic constraints determine what synapses are possible                    between neurons and which are not.                                                                                                                                   Since evidence about the evolution of circuitry cannot be                  obtained from fossils, Dr. Ebbesson designed an approach to                     study brain evolution 20 years ago that involves a systematic                   examination of a given neural system in the broadest possible                   spectrum of vertebrates with the hope that principles of                        evolution would emerge from the pattern of the data.  The                       initial objectives have now been reached in that the basic                      organization and variability of several sensory systems,                        including the ascending spinal and the visual systems in                        representative samples of most major vertebrate groups, are now                 known.  The many pathways discovered and described during the                   last 20 years by a number of investigations point to several                    operational evolutionary strategies.  One of these has been                     described as the parcellation theory which states that diffuse,                 undifferentiated, overlapping neural systems existed in the                     beginning of vertebrate evolution and that during evolution of                  complex behaviors, and analytical capacities related to these                   behaviors, a range of neural systems evolved, not by de novo                    appearance or one system invading another, but by a process of                  segregation and isolation (parcellation) that involves the                      formation of more isolated subcircuits by the selective loss of                 connections.  The resultant daughter systems individually lack                  one or more connections of their ancestors.  The evolutionary                   process is thought to be reflected in the normal ontogenetic                    development of a given system where a similar segregation-                      isolation process take place.  The objective of Dr. Ebbesson                    for the next three years is to test and define this theory by                   defining connections more precisely in the sensory pathways in                  species from three vertebrate classes that are likely to have                   extensive overlap of systems; i.e., unparcellated systems.                      These animals include the bowfin, the nurse shark, and the                      tiger salamander.
{'FirstName': 'Sven', 'LastName': 'Ebbesson', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'O', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Sven O Ebbesson', 'EmailAddress': None, 'NSF_ID': '000409527', 'StartDate': '08/01/1987', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus', 'CityName': 'FAIRBANKS', 'ZipCode': '997750001', 'PhoneNumber': '9074747301', 'StreetAddress': '2145 N TANANA LOOP', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Alaska', 'StateCode': 'AK', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '00', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'AK00', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'FDLEQSJ8FF63', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
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{'Code': '119100', 'Text': 'BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1987&All=true', 'xml': '8704575.xml'}