We are an integrative neurobiology laboratory in the Department of Biology at the University of Oklahoma. Our research focuses on the neurobiology of animal communication signals, their development, endocrine control, and evolutionary context. In conducting our research we have a simple but important mission: We make discoveries and we train scientists.

We use weakly electric fish as our model system. These fish generate and detect electric fields in the water as a means of communicating and imaging their world. These electric organ discharges (EODs) are a direct result of ionic activity in the cells of a specialized electric organ. We investigate how changes in EOD waveform arise at the molecular and ionic level, how changes in EOD waveform transform the communication function of the signal, and how environmental, energetic, and evolutionary constraints have shaped the functional characteristics of electric organ cells.

The lab is affiliated with the Cellular and Behavioral Neurobiology Ph.D. program at the University of Oklahoma and supported in part by the National Science Foundation and the OU Case-Hooper endowment.