Research Interests - Dr. James Sidie

Research: 

Brainstem Neural Network in Weakly Electric Fish.  - The purpose of this project is to determine why a group of cells in the brain of these fish produces nerve impulses with such impossible regularity.  We use electroophysiological instrumentation and various pharmacological compounds to try to solve this puzzle.  This appears to be the most stable neural network known in Biology.  An answer to this question may contribute to an understanding of similar regularity in epilepsy.

 

Marine Biology/Marine Microbiology.  -  The purpose of this project is to define the diversity of microbial populations found on the beaches around Woods Hole, MA., located on Cape Cod.  Nobody knows how many bacterial species exist on the planet Earth.  Currently, there are about 2600 named bacterial species.  There are about 260,000 named protozoan species.  This difference is unlikely to be true.  We are using computer-assisted bacterial identification software together with differing culture media in an attempt to classify as many marine bacteria as possible.  The number of bacteria in the ocean is enormous and represents a substantial unknown ecological variable. 

 

Phototaxis in Embryonic Squid. -  The purpose of this project is to examine stereotyped responses to light in squid embryos before they hatch.  Squid are interesting because they exhibit a daily migration pattern-near the ocean surface at night, deep in the water during the day.  This certainly is a response to light.  Our experiments seek to determine how soon this particular behavior pattern becomes established and what component of light are important.