Staff Scientist:

David Beeman

Since joining the Bower laboratory more than 15 years ago, David
Beeman has been responsible for managing the GENESIS simulation
project, especially with respect to users. Dr. Beeman is currently
working in collaboration with Kay Robbins in the Department of
Computer Science at the University of Texas San Antonio on a redesign
of the GENESIS users interface in order to more rapidly and
effectively develop educational tutorials in the GENESIS system.

Postdoctoral Fellows:

Huo (Howard) Lu

Dr. Lu's efforts in the lab are diverse, including ultrastructural
studies of synaptic terminations of molecular layer interneurons in
the cerebellum, the effects of neuromodulators on cerebellar
activity, and animal imaging studies of cerebellar activity in
response to tactile sensory stimuli. Dr. Lu is using a combination of in
vivo and in vitro intra- and extra-cellular techniques to study these
questions.

Dr. Lu is also involved in two collaborative studies, one with
David Senseman at the University of Texas San Antonio, exploring
synaptic effects of the cerebellar parallel fiber system in the
cerebellum of the turtle. The second collaboration, with Huang at
the University of Missouri Kansas City, involves synaptic learning
rules in the granule cell / Purkinje cell projection pathway.

Augusto Petacchi

A native of Italy, in San Antonio with a Fulbright Scholarship,
Augustoutilizes electrophysiological techniques to study cerebellar
function it the context of the auditory system. He is mapping the afferent
auditory input to the cerebellum and applying the data to understand how
cerebellar cortex processes afferent information and then influences brainstem
auditory structures. Further efforts will involve testing cerebellar patient populations
for auditory acuity and otoacoustic emissions, as well as imaging cerebellar responses
to auditory stimuli in normal humans.

Patrick Tripp began his studies in the laboratory in the spring of
2003 as part of his master's degree program at the University of
Texas, San Antonio. Using multi-neuron extracellular recording
techniques, Patrick is quantifying the modulatory effects of parallel
fiber inputs on inputs from synapses associated with the ascending
segment of the granule cell axon. Patrick is also working in
collaboration with Anna Devor, and the Imaging Center at
Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard, to use reflectance imaging to
examine changes in blood flow patterns associated with cerebellar
cortical activity.