Jeffrey J. Wenstrup, Ph.D.

Professor and Chair of Anatomy and Neurobiology
College of Medicine

Faculty Laboratory Page

Education

1976                 St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo.
                           Honors B.A. in Philosophy

1983                  Indiana University School of Medicine, Bloomington, Ind.
                           Ph.D. in Physiology; Minor in Neuroscience Studies

Professional Experience

1976 - 1982      Indiana University School of Medicine, Bloomington, Ind.
                            Medical Sciences Program; Research Assistant, Associate Instructor

1983 - 1986      University of Texas, Austin, Texas
                            Department of Zoology; Postdoctoral Research Fellow

1986 - 1989      University of California, Berkeley, Calif.
                            Department of Physiology-Anatomy; Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Lecturer

1989                   Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich, Federal Republic of Germany
                            Zoological Institute; Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow

1990 -                 Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio, formerly Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine
                            1990 - 1996    Department of Neurobiology; Assistant Professor
                            1996 - 2002    Department of Neurobiology and Pharmacology; Associate Professor
                             2002 - 2008   Department of Neurobiology; Professor
                             2005 -              Auditory Neuroscience Group, Director
                             2008-               Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology; Professor and Chair

1990 -                 Kent State University School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent, Ohio
                            1990 -               Neuroscience Graduate Program; Graduate Faculty
                            1996 - 2004     Neuroscience Graduate Program; Chair
                             2006 -              Neuroscience Graduate Program; Chair

1993 - 2003       The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio
                             1993 - 1997   Department of Biomedical Engineering; Adjunct Graduate Faculty
                             1999 - 2003   Department of Biomedical Engineering; Adjunct Graduate Faculty

Research Interests

We study neural mechanisms underlying hearing and acoustically guided behaviors, particularly social communication and biological sonar. Over the past few years, we have focused increasingly on interactions between hearing and emotions. Much of our current work examines three facets of these interactions: the link between vocal signals and an animal’s emotional state, the analysis of social vocalizations by emotional centers in the brain, and the manner in which emotional centers modify processing of sounds by the auditory system. We use a wide variety of approaches in our work—behavioral, neurophysiological, pharmacological, and anatomical. We are particularly excited about technical developments that allow us to analyze the activity of individual neurons during social interactions.

A second focus is on the neural mechanisms underlying echolocation behavior in bats. Our laboratory has discovered novel cellular mechanisms and neural connections related to bats’ analysis of the distance of flying insects and other objects using sonar.

Recent Publications

Dr. Wenstrup’s publications in PubMed

Gadziola, M.A., Grimsley, J.M.S., Shanbhag, S.J., and Wenstrup, J.J. (2012) A novel coding mechanism for social vocalizations in the lateral amygdala. Journal of Neurophysiology. 107:1047-1057.

Wenstrup, J.J. and Portfors, C.V. (2011) Neural processing of target distance by echolocating bats: functional roles of the auditory midbrain. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 35:2073-2083.

Yavuzoglu, A., Schofield, B.R., and Wenstrup, J.J. (2011) Circuitry underlying spectrotemporal integration in the auditory midbrain. Journal of Neuroscience 31:14424-14435.

Grimsley, J.M.S, Monaghan, J.J.M., and Wenstrup, J.J. (2011) Development of social vocalizations in mice. PLoS ONE 6:e17460.

Yavuzoglu, A., Schofield, B.R., and Wenstrup, J.J. (2010) Substrates of auditory frequency integration in a nucleus of the lateral lemniscus. Neuroscience 169:906-919.

Peterson, D.C., Nataraj, K., and Wenstrup, J.J. (2009) Glycinergic inhibition creates a form of spectral integration in nuclei of the lateral lemniscus. Journal of Neurophysiology 102:1004-1016.

Gans, D., Sheykholeslami, K., Peterson, D., and Wenstrup, J.J. (2009) Temporal features of spectral integration in the inferior colliculus: effects of stimulus duration and rise time. Journal of Neurophysiology 102:167-180.

Peterson, D.C., Voytenko, S., Gans, D., Galazyuk*, A., and Wenstrup*, J.J. (2008) Intracellular recordings from combination-sensitive neurons in the inferior colliculus Journal of Neurophysiology 100:628-645.
* Drs. Galazyuk and Wenstrup contributed equally as heads of the laboratories involved in this project.

Sanchez, J., Gans, D., and Wenstrup, J.J. (2008) Glycinergic “inhibition” mediates selective excitatory response to combinations of sounds. Journal of Neuroscience 28:80-90.

Sanchez, J., Gans, D., and Wenstrup, J.J. (2007) Contribution of NMDA and AMPA receptors in temporal patterning of auditory responses in the inferior colliculus. Journal of Neuroscience 27:1954-1963.

Nataraj, K. and Wenstrup J.J. (2006) Roles of inhibition in complex auditory responses in the inferior colliculus: inhibitory combination-sensitive neurons. Journal of Neurophysiology 95:2179-2192.

Marsh, R.A., Nataraj, K., Gans, D., Portfors, C.V., and Wenstrup, J.J. (2006) Auditory responses in the cochlear nucleus of awake mustached bats: precursors to complex properties in the auditory midbrain. Journal of Neurophysiology 95:88-105.