Susan Warren, PhD

Professor Office: R719; (601) 984-1671 Lab: R717; (601) 984-1660 Fax: (601) 984-1655 Email

Education

• BS - University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth (formerly Southeastern Massachusetts University), Dartmouth, MA, 1976, Biology
• PhD - Penn State University, M.S. Hershey Medical Center, 1982 
• Postdoctoral training - Physiology and Biophysics, NYU School of Medicine
• Postdoctoral training - NIMH fellow, Psychiatry, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 

Research interests

Key words: Trigeminal system, Blink circuits, Oro-facial behaviors, Visual motor system, Gaze circuitry, Eye-head coordination, Somatosensory system, Thalamic spatio-temporal coding circuits, Complex tactile pattern coding

My research interests center around three broad areas:

• The trigeminal system circuitry underlying the interplay of discrete sensory contributions arising from face, muscles and oral cavity that contribute to coordinated oro-facial behaviors including blinking, chewing, swallowing and speech production\
• In conjunction with a colleague, visual motor system premotor circuitry underlying gaze and eye-head coordinated movements
• The somatosensory system circuitry underlying object feature recognition (size, shape texture, motion) particularly in the sensory thalamus and primary sensory cortex. My research program takes a multifaceted approach combining varied anatomical techniques (tracers, viral vectors), extracellular recording and stimulating physiological techniques, together with several animal models (monkey, cat and mouse). The goal of this laboratory is to gain a better understanding of the components of neural circuits contribution to a wide array of stereotypic behaviors including orofacial behaviors and eye-head movements

Current funding

• NIH, NEI
  TITLE: Midbrain Circuitry for Neuronal Control of Gaze
  Dates: April 2015 through March 2019
  S. Warren, Co-Investigator (15%); P.J. May, Principal Investigator

Selected publications

*In last four years

• Bohlen, MO, Warren S, and May, PJ. (2015) A central mesencephalic reticular formation projection to the supraoculomotor area in macaque monkeys. Brain Structure and Function, Published online: 10 April 2015.
• Perkins, E, May, PJ, and Warren, S. (2014) Feed-forward and feedback projections of midbrain reticular formation neurons in the cat. Frontiers in Neuroanatomy, Online: January 2014.
• Bohlen, MO, Warren, S, Blumer R, Stahl J and May PJ. (2014) The organization of extraocular muscle motoneuronal pools in the mouse. 2014 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. Program No. 62.12.