Assistant Professor of Biology Kim McArthur co-authored a research article recently accepted in the Journal of Comparative Neurology, presenting the results of her Spring 2023 sabbatical (funded, in part, by the Sam Taylor Fellowship). The article, titled “Structure and topography of facial branchiomotor neuron dendrites in larval zebrafish (Danio rerio),” uses a combination of single-cell labeling, in vivo fluorescence microscopic imaging, and 3D tracing to provide evidence that early synaptic input to motor neurons may be determined by the relative location of their dendrites in the developing hindbrain. This work contributes to our growing understanding of the importance of early spatial organization for the development of neural circuits.

Assistant Professor of Biology Kim McArthur presented a virtual poster at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in November 2023. Her poster, titled “Mapping the dendrite topography of facial motor neurons in larval zebrafish,” presented preliminary results from her sabbatical research, gathering evidence to test the hypothesis that the relative positioning of a neuron’s dendrites can determine which synaptic inputs that neuron receives– thereby determining its functional role in a neural circuit.

Assistant Professor of Biology Kim McArthur, with co-authors Emma Astad ’21, Emmett Griffin-Baldwin ’22, Bria Tovar ’22, and Tori Tovar ’22, wrote a research article recently accepted in the Journal of Comparative Neurology. The article, entitled “Early development of respiratory motor circuits in larval zebrafish (Danio rerio),” uses a combination of behavioral analysis and functional calcium imaging to reveal the developmental time course of early synaptic inputs from respiratory, central pattern-generating circuits to the cranial motor neurons that generate coordinated breathing behaviors. This work provides critical foundational information about the development of an emerging model circuit in developmental neurobiology, setting the stage for future work probing the mechanisms of synapse development.

Assistant Professor of Biology Kim McArthur gave an invited virtual presentation on equity in grading to the Union College (Schenectady, New York) faculty on March 22. The presentation, titled “Rethinking Traditional Grading, Working Towards Equity,” provided a framework for considering the impact of traditional grading practices on student equity, with suggestions for reconsidering and fully aligning assessment practices with course learning objectives.

Assistant Professor of Biology Kim McArthur presented her research at the annual meeting of the Society for Developmental Biology on July 14, 2021. In her virtual poster, titled “Behavioral Analysis of Respiratory Circuit Development in Larval Zebrafish,” McArthur presented evidence that neural circuits in the brainstem that drive breathing behaviors become functional very early in development, well before they are strictly necessary for oxygen uptake. The larval zebrafish provides a unique opportunity to study the earliest stages in neural circuit development as zebrafish develop outside of their mothers where brain cells can be observed under the microscope using noninvasive methods.