Specialty Areas
Developmental Neurobiology
Sometimes something just goes awry. Can we discover how it happens and learn to prevent it? Professor Donna M. Fekete, a pioneer in molecular approaches in the study of inner ear development, explains the impact of fateful genetic moment. “A single genetic defect early in the process of development can produce a disastrous cascade of events for the complicated auditory system. We need to focus on those key genetic ‘decisions’ the body makes when first beginning to form the ear.” Fekete’s group traces the genetic lineages of cells as they diverge from a general form to special purpose cells, analyzes the role of programmed cell death in that process, and investigates how intersecting regions which produce similarly important genes appear to signal ‘strategies’ back and forth to one another. Several faculty pursue research in neurobiology and physiology and are members of the campus-wide Purdue University Neuroscience (PUN) program.
