RESEARCH IN POSTURE AND LOCOMOTION
Our research is a labor of love that has its context understanding how the nervous system generates motor behaviors. It can be argued that nervous systems evolved in animals to allow for sensible decisions to be made in generating and adapting motor actions. Sense organs provide the information needed for making these modifications. The animals we have studied are arthropod invertebrates and most work in the lab is done on sense organs of insects that detect mechanical forces (mechanoreceptors). Cogent reasons for studying insects are that their nervous systems have fewer neurons and their sense organs are individually identifiable. Experiments can be performed on these animals that are difficult or impossible to do in vertebrates. However, the actual impetus for our studies is that insect behaviors are fascinating and richly complex. They are also constructed with an economy of design that reflects their remarkable adaptive success and longevity. The specific projects we are currently pursuing are described in Projects and our Publications are listed and some are available for download. We also have a number of Video sequences available for study or perusal, many of which have audio channels with recordings of sensory or motor activities during the behaviors. Information about our graduate program and Marshall University is available to any students or post-docs interested in pursuing research projects, and they are encouraged to Contact us. We will also gladly answer any questions or email. We have also posted a page related to Issues in Medical Education and teaching Basic Science/Neurobiology as a forum for ideas and discussion.
Dr. Sasha N. Zill
Department of Anatomy and Pathology
Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine
1542 Spring Valley Drive
Huntington, WV 25701
university email: firstname.lastname@example.org
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