Michele B. Halvorsen

Department of Biology
The University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742

Phone: 301-405-6903
E-mail: mb_halvorsen(at)yahoo.com

Curriculum Vitae

Education
Postdoctoral fellow 2003 – Present University of Maryland, Biology Department and Psychology Department, College Park, MD.
Ph.D. 2003 University of Illinois at Chicago, Laboratory of Integrative Neurobiology, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Chicago, IL.
B.S. 1991 Southern Illinois University, Zoology, Carbondale, IL.
A.S. 1989

Elgin Community College, IL
Current Research Interests
I have recently switched from studying the mammalian auditory physiology into fish auditory physiology. Clupeid fish (consisting of herring and shad) are the only know family of fish that have ultrasonic hearing capabilities (up to 200 kHz). Cetaceans prey upon these fish and use echolocation (ultrasonic clicks) to investigate their environment and find their prey. It is hypothesized that clupeid fish evolved the ability to detect these ultrasonic clicks to avoid predation analogous to a moth detecting the echolocation calls from a bat. I  use electrophysiology to locate and record from neurons sensitive ultrasonic stimulation, after characterizing these neurons I iontophores a neural tracer onto the area.  I use anatomical techniques to determine the central nuclei and neural pathways involved in ultrasound detection.
Selected Publications
Halvorsen MB, Grothe B, and Park TJ (in revision 2005) Sensitivity to Interaural Intensity Differences in the Inferior Colliculus of Juvenile and Adult Gerbil. Journal of Comparative Physiology

Plachta DT, Song J, Halvorsen MB, Popper AN (2004) Neuronal Encoding of Ultrasonic Sound by a Fish. J Neurophysiol. 91:2590-259.

C. M. Comer, L. Parks, M. B. Halvorsen, A. Breese-Terteling (2003). The antennal system and cockroach evasive behavior. II. Stimulus identification and localization are separable antennal functions. Journal of Comparative Physiology A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 189(2):97-103.

Klug A, Khan A, Burger RM, Bauer EE, Hurley LM, Yang L, Grothe B, Halvorsen MB, Park TJ (2000) Latency as a function of intensity in auditory neurons: transformations along the neuraxis. Hearing Research 148(1-2): p107-23.

Popper AN, Halvorsen MB, Kane AS, Miller DL, Smith ME, Song J, Wysocki LE (2005) Effects of Low Frequency Sonar on Fishes.  Assoc. Res. Otolaryngol. Midwinter meeting Abstr.

Halvorsen MB and Park TJ (2001) IID Sensitivity in Gerbil IC: Adult vs. Juvenile. Soc. Neurosci. Abst.

Halvorsen MB, Grothe B, Bruetel G, Park TJ, (2000) IID sensitivity in neurons tuned to low frequencies in the gerbil inferior colliculus. Assoc. Res. Otolaryngol. Midwinter meeting Abstr.

Klug A, Khan A, Halvorsen MB, Burger RM, Park TJ (1999) Intensity dependant latency shifts are transformed along the neuraxis. Assoc. Res. Otolaryngol. Midwinter meeting Abstr.

Holinstat MA, Halvorsen MB, Oswald JP, Klug A, Park TJ, (1998) Does nonmonotonicity degrade the reliability of IID coding? Assoc. Res. Otolaryngol. Midwinter meeting Abstr.

Parks LY, Halvorsen MB, Comer CM, (1997) Localization of receptors crucial for escape behavior elicited by antennal contact in cockroaches. Soc. Neurosci. Abstr.



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