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The relationship between form and function is obvious in the brain. Neuronal structure directly impacts connectivity and circuit properties, ultimately shaping behavior. But how do neurons know what shape to take? What genetic and molecular factors guide neuronal growth? Further, in established nervous systems, do these same factors help individual neurons compensate for injury? By studying the factors that help shape development and injury responses in simple nervous systems, we can infer the molecular rules that likely govern human nervous systems as well.

Hadley Horch is a molecular neuroscientist who explores how nervous systems recover from injury. Her grant-funded work on the compensatory plasticity of the cricket nervous system has allowed her to mentor dozens of undergraduate scientists in her lab. In addition to publishing several papers with her students, she also co-edited the book Cricket as a Model Organism: Development, Regeneration, and Behavior (Springer). She earned her BA in biology from Swarthmore College and her PhD in neuroscience from Duke University. After a brief postdoc at Cornell, she was thrilled to return to her liberal arts roots, arriving at ³Õºº¾ãÀÖ²¿ in 2002. She enjoys traveling with her family, gardening, and kayaking and has recently fallen in love with modern quilting. Sponsored by the Office of Stewardship.