Biology professor Ryoichi Teruyama may be in charge of the lab, but he’s not the brains behind this research operation.
Teruyama and his undergraduate researchers, biochemistry senior Katie Huang and Baton Rouge Community College biology sophomore Ryan LeBlanc, are becoming the first researchers to map the brain of an alligator.
After receiving a research stipend through the Louisiana Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Research Scholars Program, Huang began working with Teruyama in summer 2012. When the alligator brain-mapping project began a year ago, she was the first undergraduate student to get involved.
Through the LSU-HHMI Undergraduate Research Program, LeBlanc began working with Teruyama on the project at the beginning of June. While he is currently a BRCC student, LeBlanc said he plans to transfer to the University in the future.
“Working here kind of eventually helped me to decide specifically what my career path would be, which is neuroscience,” LeBlanc said.
Teruyama serves as a supervisor and mentor to his undergraduate students, but much of the research is conducted by the students.
Using a device called a stereotaxic apparatus, Teruyama and his students measure millimeter-sized sections of the brain, starting at the ear canal. Teruyama said the stereotaxic apparatus he and his students use was modified for the alligator from the original apparatus used for monkeys.
Once these sections are measured, the alligator brain is sliced into segments, and photographs of each piece are taken, which LeBlanc uses to create precise drawings of the different areas of the brain. The segments are then placed on slides and stained.
Teruyama said alligators are ideal for this project because they are a native species prevalent in Louisiana.
“Not so many people are working on the alligator neuroanatomy, so someone has to do it, and we’ve got a pretty good location to do so,” Teruyama said.
Huang and LeBlanc are responsible for sectioning the brain, staining each segment as it’s placed on a slide and producing drawings of the areas of the brain, Teruyama said.
“I’m basically handling the alligators from beginning to end by removing the brains, sectioning them, mounting them on slides and staining them,” LeBlanc said. “From there, I use imaging to draw them out so that we can start mapping them.”
Teruyama said the students are also expected to do additional research about existing information on the neuroanatomy of various avian and mammalian species.
“We are taking our samples and comparing them to avian species, birds and their brain atlases — which have been mapped — and identifying structures because they’re similar,” Huang said.
In addition to simple observations, Teruyama said he and his students are also applying some more-molecular techniques to identify and confirm the parts of the alligator brain in relation to existing brain maps.
Teruyama’s research expertise is in electrophysiology, the study of the electrical properties of the body and its functions. Because of the years of training required to conduct research in that area, Teruyama decided a project focusing on neuroanatomy would be a more appropriate challenge for undergraduate students.
The goal of the project is to one day have the alligator brain mapped and labeled and create computer-generated 3D reconstructions of the brain from the photographs and drawings produced by the students, Teruyama said.
The project is a year old, and Teruyama said this is just the beginning of what he and his students can accomplish.
At this time, the funding for the project comes from the state-allocated funds Teruyama receives. He said he hopes the project will eventually receive funding from either the Board of Regents or the National Science Foundation.
“He will put everything down to help his undergraduate students, and you don’t find that in a lot of professors,” Huang said.
This weekend, Teruyama and his students will travel to Washington, D.C., for the Society for Neuroscience’s annual international conference, where Huang will be presenting their research.
“Every undergraduate dreams of going to a national conference or getting a paper published,” Huang said. “It’s having that on your résumé that looks really great for graduate school.”
The Society for Neuroscience holds the largest neuroscience conference in the nation, with more than 15,000 scientific presentations and 30,000 attendees from all over the world.
“The people at this conference are going to grill me so hard, but it will be such a great learning experience,” Huang said.