Joyce Keifer, PhD

Professor

Director, Center for Neural Mechanisms of Adaptive Behavior

Neuroscience Group

Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences

University of South Dakota

School of Medicine

Vermillion, SD  57069-2390

  tel:     (605)  677-5134

  fax:  (605)  677-6381

  e-mail:  jkeifer@usd.edu

 

Education

Ph.D. in Neuroscience,  University of Wisconsin - Madison, Neuroscience Training Program, 1982-1987     

B.S. in Physiological Psychology, Arizona State University, 1976—1980

                               

Post Doctoral

Professor, University of South Dakota School of Medicine; Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences, 2003—Present

Director, NIH Center for Neural Mechanisms of Adaptive Behavior, USD, 2000—Present

Associate Professor, University of South Dakota School of Medicine; Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences  (departments merged in 1998), 1997—2003

Assistant Professor, University of South Dakota School of Medicine; Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, 1993—1997

Research Assistant Professor, Northwestern University Medical School; Department of Physiology, 1991—1993

Postdoctoral Fellow, Northwestern University Medical School, Department of Physiology, 1987—1991

 

Statement of Research Interests
Dr. Keifer is interested in the neural mechanisms of adaptive motor control using the isolated turtle brain as a model system to study the function of neural circuits. The isolated turtle brain provides a unique opportunity to study large-scale neural circuits for a period of days in vitro, thereby allowing us to study learning "in a dish". Our studies are focused on examining the classically conditioned eyeblink response in vitro. The isolated turtle brain is able to generate a neural correlate of learned blink responses allowing studies of the cellular mechanisms underlying this poorly understood learning process. Current studies are aimed at testing the hypothesis that selective insertion of GluR4-containing AMPA receptors into auditory nerve synapses during conditioning underlies the formation of learned eyeblink responses. This process is NMDAR-dependent and involves selective activation of protein kinases and immediate-early genes that are likely to underlie the trafficking of receptors into and out of synapses. Techniques used in our laboratory make use of confocal imaging of pre- and postsynaptic protein clusters, intracellular and extracellular recording techniques, neuroanatomical tracing methods, and molecular approaches. The insights gained into basic processes of learning and memory will have fundamental implications for understanding the cellular basis of memory disorders such as occur in amnesia and Alzheimer's disease.

 

CV

 

Publications