research interests
Dave's main research interests include the neurobiological bases and treatments for psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and dementia. With the focus on the etiology and augmentation of these disorders becoming increasingly molecular, Dave has pursued education and research experiences spanning the fields of psychology, biology, chemistry, and physics. Dave understands, appreciates, and approaches research studies on all levels of analysis- from molecular, cellular, and tissue through systemic, organismic and social.
research experience
Dave's research career began as an undergraduate at Hope College in the psychology lab of Dr. Charlotte vanOyen Witvliet studying the psychophysiology of emotions related to interpersonal transgressions and subsequent forgiveness (or lack thereof).
Upon graduation from Hope with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 2001, Dave joined the lab of Dr. Rodney Swain at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee to study the role of the cerebellum in cognitive processes and how disruption of the cerebellum may relate to the negative symptoms of schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. He entered into the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program then after two and a half years switched to the Experimental Psychology Ph.D. program after determining that such a move was beneficial to allow pursuit of a full-time research and instruction career in neuroscience. Dave earned his Master of Science in Psychology in 2005 and is on track to graduate with his Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology in May 2008. He majored in Behavioral Neuroscience and minored in Clinical/ Psychopathology, Biological Science, and Statistics.
Dave has become involved with the research of Dr. Janis Eells and Dr. Ann Snyder at UWM, where he has begun pursuing research studying the effects of 670 nm near-infrared photoirradiation on biological processes.
During his years of Clinical training, Dave learned many interviewing, assessment, and therapeutic skills and techniques. Most of his time with clients was spent administering, scoring, and interpreting assessments related to neuropsychological issues at the Medical College of Wisconsin Neuropsychology Clinic. He also administered, scored, and interpreted intelligence and personality assessments on a regular basis.
In the lab, Dave has expertise in stereotaxic rat surgery (isoflurane anesthesia) to administer electrolytic lesions and many rodent behavioral paradigms. These include, for example, Morris Water Maze, open field, T-maze, and operant chamber conditioning. He is also proficient at perfusions, fixations, and slicing of brain tissue on a vibratome and freezing-stage microtome. Dave has significant experience with histological techniques including several stains, immunohistochemistry, and lesion reconstruction. Finally, Dave has statistical analysis proficiency with SPSS software and some familiarity with SAS.
Dave has also received training in several additional analysis techniques and tools including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), psychophysiology/ electromyography (EMG), stereology, DNA and RNA isolation and sequencing, gel blots (Northerns, Southerns, Westerns), genomic cloning, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR), and quantitative RT-PCR (RT-QPCR). Also worthy of mention are Dave's experience with survey construction and administration, computer construction and troubleshooting (hardware and software), programming (XHTML, CSS, PHP, SQL), manuscript preparation, editing, and submission, Linux (Ubuntu distribution), and website design, construction, and publishing.
research plans
Dave recently completed his doctoral dissertation, titled Alteration of Dendritic Spine Morphology in Rat Prefrontal Cortex Subsequent to Cerebellar Dentate Nuclei Lesion. He is also working on projects examining the potential use of 670 nm photobiomodulation in the treatment of diabetes. Upon completion of his dissertation, Dave plans to focus on characterizing the effects of 670 nm photobiomodulation on the central nervous system and other biological tissues, with an eye towards using this technology in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders and age- related deficits.