USC College Department of Biology

Faculty

Biological Sciences has more than 60 full-time faculty members, as well as more than 20 faculty with joint appointments and 15 visiting or adjunct professors. Among its many distinctions and honors, the Ph.D. program faculty includes two members of the National Academy of Sciences, four members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and 18 holders of endowed chairs and professorships.

Sarah Bottjer

Professor of Biological Sciences and Psychology

Contact Information
E-mail: bottjer@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 740-9183
Office: HNB 218

LINKS
Personal Website

Education

B.A. Psychology, State University of New York, Binghamton, 6/1975
Ph.D. Experimental Psychology with Zoology minor, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1/1980

Postdoctoral Training

Assistant Research Scientist, UCLA, 1982-1986
Postdoctoral Scholar, UCLA, 1980-1982

Description of Research

Summary Statement of Research Interests

Professor Bottjer's studies of young songbirds have revealed much about basic mechanisms of neural development, learning and memory, and brain-behavior relationships. Using the zebra finch as a model organism, Bottjer has made key discoveries about changes in the neural substrate for learned vocal behavior that occur during early development. Her work has helped to elucidate how the brain controls and produces behaviors (such as learned vocal utterances in birds) and how early experience affects the development of neural networks. The research is an important part of understanding speech acquisition in children, normal brain function, and the brain's response to injury, disease and aging. Among other projects, Professor Bottjer is currently investigating the contribution of specific functional circuits to distinct aspects of vocal learning, the role of auditory experience in sculpting neural circuits for vocal learning during sensitive periods of development, the influence of sensory experience in regulating axon arbor morphology and specificity of topographic mapping in neural networks, and synaptic plasticity in vocal-control circuitry using whole-cell recordings in brain-slice preparations.

Publications

Journal Article

Bottjer, S. W. (2005). Silent synapses in a thalamo-cortical circuit necessary for song learning in zebra finches. Journal of Neurophysiology/Not Available. Vol. 94, pp. 3698-7307.
DeWulf, V., Bottjer, S. W. (2005). Neurogenesis within the juvenile zebra finch telencephalic ventricular zone: a map of proliferative activity. Journal of Comparative Neurology/Wiley. Vol. 481, pp. 70-83.
Bottjer, S. W. (2005). Timing and prediction the code from basal ganglia to thalamus. Neuron/Cell Press. Vol. 46, pp. 4-7..
Zevin, J. D., Seidenberg, M. S., Bottjer, S. W. (2004). Limits on reacquisition of song in adult zebra finches exposed to white noise. Journal of Neuroscience. Vol. 24, pp. 5849-5862.
Bottjer, S. W. (2004). Developmental regulation of basal ganglia circuitry during the sensitive period for vocal learning in songbirds. Annals NY Academy of Sciences. Vol. 1016, pp. 395-415.
Bottjer, S. W. (2002). Iyengar S, Bottjer SW. The role of auditory experience in the formation of neural circuits underlying vocal learning in zebra finches. J Neurosci. 2002 Feb 1;22(3):946-58.
Bottjer, S. W. (2002). Bottjer SW. Neural strategies for learning during sensitive periods of development. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2002 Dec;188(11-12):917-28.
Bottjer, S. W. (2002). DeWulf V, Bottjer SW. Age and sex differences in mitotic activity within the zebra finch telencephalon. J Neurosci. 2002 May 15;22(10):4080-94.
Iyengar, S., Bottjer, S. W. (2002). Development of individual axon arbors in a thalamocortical circuit necessary for song learning in zebra finches. J Neurosci. Vol. 22 (3), pp. 901-11.
Bottjer, S. W. (2001). Troyer TW, Bottjer SW. Birdsong: models and mechanisms. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2001 Dec;11(6):721-6.
Foster, E. F., Bottjer, S. W. (2001). Lesions of a telencephalic nucleus in male zebra finches: Influences on vocal behavior in juveniles and adults. J Neurobiol. Vol. 46 (2), pp. 142-65.
Bottjer, S. W., Brady, J. D., Cribbs, B. (2000). Connections of a motor cortical region in zebra finches: relation to pathways for vocal learning. J Comp Neurol. Vol. 420 (2), pp. 244-60.
Bottjer, S. W. (1999). Iyengar S, Viswanathan SS, Bottjer SW. Development of topography within song control circuitry of zebra finches during the sensitive period for song learning. J Neurosci. 1999 Jul 15;19(14):6037-57.

Honors and Awards

American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, Elected Fellow, AAAS, 2008
Director of "Neural Systems & Behavior" course, MBL, 2004-2007
Recipient of National or International Prize in Discipline, Plenary Speaker, International Congress of Neuroethology, 1996
C. and F. Demuth Swiss Medical Research Foundation International Award for Young Investigators in the Neurosciences, 1987
Recipient of National or International Prize in Discipline, McKnight Scholar Award for Excellence in Neuroscience Research, 1985
National Research Service Award, Postdoctoral Fellowship, Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles (Mental Health Training Program), 1980-1982

Service to the University

Administrative Appointments

Neurobiology Section Head, 08/16/2006-08/15/2009