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The
Division of Neurobiology of the Arizona Research Laboratories (ARLDN) is an interdisciplinary organized-research and teaching unit -- an academic
department in all ways except its name. The ARLDN
is devoted to basic research and advanced education
in the fields of cellular, developmental, molecular,
and systems neurobiology, neuroethology, and animal
behavior. A unifying theme of the unit is the use
of insects as models for studies of the organization,
function, ontogeny, and evolution of neural systems.
Investigations under way in the ARLDN on experimentally
favorable insects seek to reveal fundamental neurobiological
processes and mechanisms common to many or all animal
species, including human beings. In recognition of
the fact that insects represent what is arguably
the most biologically successful fauna on earth,
the investigations under way in the ARLDN also have potential to lead to insights about the
evolution, diversity, and adaptedness of nervous
systems and to advance our understanding, and ultimately
control, of agriculturally and medically harmful
insects. The research carried out in the ARLDN is
funded by agencies charged with promoting research
related to human health (NIH), basic science (NSF),
agricultural sciences (USDA), national defense (DARPA),
and international cooperation (NATO), as well as
by private foundations and industry.
The
ARLDN traces its origins to a report prepared by University
of Arizona neuroscientists in December, 1980: A Position Paper on Establishing Invertebrate Neurobiology at the University
of Arizona. That document concluded that:
"...
to remain current with the times, a university must
have an integrated neuroscience program. Invertebrate
neurobiology is an indispensable component of such
programs. ... With [this] in mind, we now suggest that
the administration explore the feasibility of bringing
a small group of invertebrate neurobiologists to The
University of Arizona."
The
University administration received the report favorably.
Through the efforts of several members of the faculty,
galvanized and led by Douglas G. Stuart (Regents' Professor
of Physiology) and supported by the University's Vice
President for Research, an effort was mounted to implement
the report's recommendations. By the spring of 1982,
planning was well under way, but the complex process
of creating a new academic enterprise would not be
completed until more than three years later. The ARLDN
was founded at last in December, 1985.
The
ARLDN has quickly gained an international reputation
as a leading university center devoted to the neurobiology
and behavior of insects, and the unit benefits from
extensive national and international scientific networking
and research collaborations. Students, postdoctoral
associates, and scientific visitors come to the ARLDN
from throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and
the Far East. From its inception to the present, the
ARLDN has grown from six to more than 100 members.
The
personnel of the ARLDN represent major technical disciplines
that contribute to the power and excitement of modern
neuroscience -- including anatomy, behavioral biology,
biochemistry, chemical ecology, computational modeling,
developmental biology, genetics, molecular biology,
pharmacology, and physiology. At the same time the
faculty and their coworkers emphasize and cluster around
important neurobiological problem areas, such as the
functional organization and physiology of sensory and
integrative systems, intra- and intercellular signaling,
motor control, neural bases of behavior, and postembryonic
neural development. Cooperation and collaboration among
research groups is common and encouraged, and members
of the ARLDN and their visitors benefit from experience
and interactions throughout the unit, not only within a single laboratory. A prime example
of interlaboratory collaboration in the unit is the
program project in neural development, involving five
faculty and members of their research groups and funded
by a Program Project Grant from the National Institute
of Neurological Diseases and Stroke.
Thus
the ARLDN is a collegial community organized to foster
and enrich the best scientific efforts of established
and developing scientists alike. The ARLDN community
is strengthened through the diversity of its members,
who come from varied scientific traditions and backgrounds
and from many places. From its inception, the ARLDN
has benefited from, and taken pride in, its cosmopolitan
character. In the period 1994-1998, for example, the
ARLDN included students, postdoctoral associates, visiting
faculty, and other personnel from Austria, Canada,
China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Sudan, Sweden,
and the United Kingdom.
The
ARLDN is a place for learning, exploring, and discovering.
Teaching and research are inseparable in the life of
this vibrant academic unit. Undergraduate and graduate
students join with postdoctoral and faculty colleagues
to pursue mutually stimulating research projects.
Undergraduate
Education
Members
of the ARLDN faculty teach undergraduate courses in
several departments, including Biochemistry, Ecology
and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, and Molecular & Cellular Biology, and under the auspices of the University's core Curriculum
and Honors Program. Moreover, the faculty members of
the ARLDN all are actively involved in the administration
and implementation of the University's Undergraduate
Biology Research Program and, since its establishment
in 1988, have served as mentors to more than 200 undergraduate
research students.
Graduate
Education
The
ARLDN is the founding home unit of the University-wide Committee on Neuroscience (CN), an interdisciplinary consortium of more than fifty faculty members from eighteen
departments throughout the University, and its graduate
Program in Neuroscience, which was established in 1988.
Ten faculty members of the ARLDN serve on the CN, and
two are currently members of its Executive Committee.
In addition to the Program in Neuroscience, ARLDN faculty
participate in the educational programs of academic
department in which they have joint appointments (Cell
Biology & Anatomy, Biochemistry, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Molecular & Cellular Biology, Neurology, and Physiology), as well as interdisciplinary graduate
Committees (Genetics, Insect Science, and Physiological
Sciences). ARLDN faculty members currently have or
share responsibility for teaching, annually or in alternate
years, a variety of graduate courses under the auspices
of these several departments and committees.
Postdoctoral
Education
An
important mission of the ARLDN is to foster the professional
development of postdoctoral associates -- to offer
them advanced educational opportunities, specialized
research training, and encouragement in their transition
to independence. In addition to their primary focus
on laboratory research, postdoctoral associates are
welcomed and encouraged to participate in the seminars,
advanced courses, journal clubs, discussion groups,
and other forums sponsored by the ARLDN and to gain
experience in teaching.
Facilities
Photo:
Charles A. Hedgcock
 The
ARLDN currently occupies 1.8 floors in the Gould-Simpson
Building, a modern research building completed in January,
1986, and several rooms in the neighboring Biosciences
West Building. Our space, totaling approximately 22,000
net sq. ft., is very well suited to the ARLDN's broadly
multidisciplinary research enterprise.
In
addition to offices and fully equipped laboratories assigned
to the faculty and their research groups, ARLDN personnel benefit
from a variety of shared research-support facilities, including:
a biochemical instrumentation facility equipped with high-speed and ultra-centrifuges, a scintillation counter, a recording
UV-visible spectrophotometer, ultra-deep freezers, a tissue
freeze-drier, a lyophilizer, a large cold room, an autoradiography
darkroom, incubators, a radioisotope-handling area including
a specially rated fume hood, and a variety of electrophoretic
equipment; a research computing facility managed by systems engineers, equipped with Sun and Silicon Graphics computers,
several Pentium and MacIntosh computers, and a variety of peripheral
devices for graphics, and providing the server for the unit's
local network and its connection to the University's ethernet
and the Internet; a gas chromatography - mass spectrometry facility; a professionally staffed insect-rearing facility to provide research animals; a well equipped light- and electron-microscopy facility, managed by a professional microscopist and including a Nikon laser-scanning
confocal microscopes, a JEOL 1200EX transmission electron microscope,
an ultramicrotome, and several light microscopes set up for
bright-field, dark-field, fluorescence, epi-illumination, phase-contrast,
and differential interference contrast optical methods; a professionally
managed and fully equipped tissue culture facility comprising two laboratories with sterile hoods, incubators, liquid-nitrogen
freezer, and inverted microscopes; a professionally staffed
and fully equipped scientific photography facility; a wind-tunnel facility for research on insect flight; a central office complex staffed by secretaries responsible for academic programs, purchasing,
and administrative and clerical support; a small conference room used for lab meetings and other small discussion groups; and a multipurpose meeting room used for seminars, conferences, lab meetings, luncheons, small classes, etc.,
and also serving as our library and reading room.
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