Postdoc with confessed aversion to genetics now inspiring a new generation of neurophysiologists
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Stefan Pulver (right) has extensive education and research experience in the fields of neurophysiology and neurogenetics. Since completing his PhD at Brandeis University in the USA, he has worked at Cambridge University (UK) and has been a visiting instructor at Cornell University (USA). Stefan has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in both research and education journals. This success, combined with a passion for mentoring life science students, may seem a little strange for a once poorly-performing undergraduate student with a confessed aversion to genetics. However, Stefan's previous dislike has now transformed into a dedication to undergraduate education. "I was really a pretty terrible undergrad student. In particular, I deeply disliked genetics and didn't pay attention in genetics classes - something I regret now. I think a lot of students have a similar experience; something about the way we teach genetics just doesn’t resonate with a lot of young biologists. Part of the reason why I'm doing what I’m doing now is to reach out to people who were like me. I want to try and get young people - who would normally hate genetics - interested in the subject." |
 Stefan Pulver, Post-Doctoral Fellow Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge |
Lighting up physiology teaching labsStefan, along with colleagues Nick Hornstein (Brandeis University), Bruce Land and Bruce Johnson (Cornell University), recently created and implemented a series of laboratory teaching modules. The modules introduce undergraduate students to genetics, and also teach cellular physiology and animal behavior. Their work, Optogenetics in the teaching laboratory: using channelrhodopsin-2 to study the neural basis of behavior and synaptic physiology in Drosophila, is published in Advances in Physiology Education and details the use of new ‘optogenetic’ technologies that allow researchers to express Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) (the blue light sensitive ion channel) in selected neurons in a fruit fly’s brain. In a freely moving ChR2 expressing fruit fly, specific neurons and synapses can be remotely activated by exposure to blue light – a method employed for many years by researchers working with genetically tractable organisms (i.e. fruit flies, nematodes, zebrafish, mice, etc.). However even due to the common use of this technology in research, it remained out of reach for most educators and students due to its high cost. In their paper, Stefan and his collaborators present inexpensive ways to bring this new technology into teaching labs and use it as a way to inspire undergraduates to pursue careers in research biology. “People have this idea that optogenetics is this high tech thing that requires fancy lasers, expensive equipment, and bunch of people with PhDs, but it’s really not that complicated, at least with fruit flies. All you need are the right flies, LEDs, some basic electronics, and a class of curious undergrads.” |
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| Screen captures taken from JoVE's video publication of Hornstein, Pulver and Griffith (2009) Images reproduced with express permission from JoVE |
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Their work is the culmination of several years experience in undergraduate classrooms. Over the past 3 years, Stefan and his co-workers incorporated Channelrhodopsin-2 expressing fly larvae with an introductory neurophysiology course at Cornell University (BioNB491, taught by Bruce Johnson). Each year, over the course of two weeks, students activated various parts of a maggot nervous system with blue light; they then examined the behavioural effects of the activation and recorded light evoked synaptic potentials at the larval NMJ. The new teaching modules enabled educators to introduce the relationship between genetics, cellular physiology and animal behavior in an observable and interactive way, rather than in the context of microscopic molecular mechanics. In addition, students broke new ground in ChR2 research by performing experiments in fruit flies researchers had never done before. Students returned overwhelmingly positive feedback after participating in the experiments:
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“Seeing students get excited in the lab was awesome, but I have to admit, seeing quantitated student response data that clearly showed how well the exercises worked was equally rewarding.” Stefan takes his inspiration from Ron Hoy, Robert Wyttenbach and Bruce Johnson (right), who during the 1980s and '90s developed the crayfish neuromuscular junction (NMJ) into a powerful tool for teaching neurophysiology (The Crawdad Project). Stefan recorded his first synaptic potential in these crayfish NMJ experiments, and like many other young people, became ‘hooked’ on studying the neural basis of animal behavior (neuroethology), the subject in which he pursued a career. He hopes that his Drosophila teaching paper will generate grassroots interest in neuroethology in the same fashion as the crayfish work of Hoy, Wyttenbach and Johnson. |
 Bruce Johnson, Senior Teaching Associate Cornell University |
Leading undergraduates to academic successStefan’s recent publications not only represent his passion for education, but his success as a mentor to undergraduate students. As a graduate student at Brandeis University, Stefan recruited undergraduate Nick Hornstein (right) to pioneer the development of optogenetic techniques for undergraduate teaching labs. It was a 2009 methods paper in the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) lead by Nick that provided the foundation for later work in teaching labs. In Nick's first year working on the project (and only his second year of university), he was lead author on the JoVE publication, and also contributed to a research article in the Journal of Neurophysiology. Nick received the 2009 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship in recognition of his work. He graduated from Brandeis this spring and will be starting an MD PhD in Neuroscience at Columbia University in September of 2011. On JoVE, you can watch Stefan and Nick discuss and demonstrate the use of PowerLab systems with LabChart software for optogenetic experiments in Drosophila. |
.gif) Nick Hornstein, graduate student MD/PhD Program - Columbia University |
Meet Dr. Stefan Pulver |
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You can meet Stefan at the 2011 Meeting of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN), where he will present a workshop on Drosophila neurogenetics for educators. He will also present his work at the 2011 Society for Neuroscience Meeting (Washington, DC). |
Dr. Stefan Pulver - career biography
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28 July 2011
