Jason E. Davis, Ph.D. - US grants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed study will examine the neurological and endocrine mechanisms supporting environmentally adaptive buffering of stress induced behavioral and physiological alterations in two subspecies of white-crowned sparrows. These populations are of special interest because several previous studies have revealed substantial differences between them in terms of both their behavioral and hormonal responses to stress across the breeding season. The proposed study will search for differences between these subspecies during the early and late phases of the breeding season in relation to glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors in areas of the brain including the hippocampus, hypothalamus, and neocortex, as well as in peripheral tissue. In addition, we will also compare these two subspecies in terms of the sensitivity of corticosterone response to ACTH, AVT, CRF, and MT during both the early and late breeding season. This study will provide insight into the location and function of mechanisms enabling stress response buffering, as well as a better understanding of the flexibility of such adaptations.

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

This project will renovate laboratory space in Curie Hall on the campus of Radford University to create core research facilities for the university's biology and chemistry programs. This renovation is needed to allow more students to participate in undergraduate research, improve the quality and scope of the research activities of the faculty and students, provide a safer work environment, and increase collaborative efforts between the biology and chemistry programs. The majority of the research space in the building has not been renovated since its original construction nearly 40 years ago. For the biology research program, the renovation will provide a core research facility in the basement of Curie Hall with two vivariums and reconfigured space for shared research instrumentation. On the third floor of Curie Hall, a core laboratory will be created for collaborative research in chemistry and biochemistry.

Faculty in the renovated core labs will conduct research and research training in the areas of biology, microbiology, cellular and molecular biology, biochemistry, chemical kinetics and catalysis, analytical chemistry, and neuroscience. Examples of research activities proposed for the renovated laboratories include studies of the neural mechanisms that regulate appetite in an animal model, actions of the neuroendocrine and immune systems, and their impact on behavior and cognition, in free living species, investigation of the enzyme beta-glucuronidase which catalyzes the cleavage of a glucuronide group from substrates and has major implications in human health and cancer therapeutics, and development of a new catalyst for esterification and transesterification reactions related to biodiesel production.

With the core facilities for biology and chemistry research, the Biology and Chemistry Department will be able to continue its dedication to excellence in undergraduate research and education through one-on-one student/faculty mentoring. The university serves a diverse and motivated undergraduate population, which includes a significant number of first-generation college students. The renovation project will provide better laboratories to inspire more of these undergraduate students through research to pursue graduate and professional post-baccalaureate education.