Secrets In A Song
Neurobiology
Erich D. Jarvis
Title: Associate Professor of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center
Education: Ph.D., Molecular Neurobiology and Animal Behavior,
Rockefeller University of New York; B.A., Biology and Mathematics, Hunter College
Age: 40
Dr. Erich D. Jarvis has contributed quite a bit to the field of neurobiology in just a few years. Chief among his list of accomplishments has been the introduction of a more effective method for producing experimental results. His research into songbirds and how they learn their songs has prompted a paradigm shift in conventional research methods.
“When I got into science, the common belief was to get animals to do things — the Pavlovian type of research — and then measure the results,” says Jarvis, who arrived at Duke University in 1998 and won the prestigious National Science Foundation Young Scientist Award in 2002. “I realized I wasn’t learning as much as I could from these animals’ natural behaviors.”
To facilitate his research on nocturnal songbirds, Jarvis recreated their natural surroundings in his lab. By studying the genetic structure
of their brains under such conditions, he determined how the birds learn their songs. “We freeze the brains within five to 10 minutes,” Jarvis explains. “Genes are constantly changing and we are capturing what the brain was like during natural conditions.”
He says understanding how behaviors cause changes in gene regulation is profoundly exciting. “I discovered behavior affects the
actual genes themselves. The conventional assumption is that genes cause behaviors, but Jarvis’ research suggests that it’s in fact “the other way around.”
