Research
The experiences students have in the laboratory reinforce and bring to life the content from their classes
The lab explores environmental stressors on learning in the developing and adult honey bee. Currently, we are exploring the effects of long-term pesticide exposure and real-world combinations of pesticides. We take a modern-approach to a classical conditioning paradigm used for decades to study the effect on learning in honey bees. Additionally we utilize immunohistochemical techniques combined with modern microscopy and image processing to reconstruct 3-dimensional representations of the mushroom bodies, a multisensory area of insect brain implicated in learning.
Select Publications
S.E. Dobrin, and S.E. Fahrbach. 2012. Visual associative learning in restrained honey bees with intact antenna. PLoS ONE 7(6): e37666. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0037666
S.E. Dobrin, and S.E. Fahrbach. 2012. Rho GTPase activity in the honey bee mushroom bodies is correlated with age and foraging experience. J. Insect Physiology. 58(2):228-34
S.E. Dobrin, J. D. Herlihy*, G.E. Robinson, and S.E. Fahrbach. 2011. Muscarinic regulation of Kenyon cell dendritic arborizations in adult worker honey bees. Arthropod Structure and Development 40(5):409-19.
S.E. Dobrin and D.E. Wilson*. 2010. What’s the buzz about honeybee memory? J. Neuroscience 30(44):14593-4. Other
S.E. Fahrbach and S.E. Dobrin. 2009. The how and why of structural plasticity in the adult honey bee brain. Cognitive Ecology II. Eds. R. Dukas and J. M. Ratcliffe. University of Chicago Press. Pp 27 – 46. Peer reviewed articles, chapters, exhibitions, productions