Christopher Olson, Ph.D.

My lab uses songbirds to understand the physiology and neurobiology of vocal learning, a trait that is vital for human speech and vocal communication, but which is virtually non-existent in most mammals. To achieve this aim we have pioneered the use of the zebra finch to understand how factors like alcohol and micronutrients (vitamin A deficiency) affect vocal learning and vocal production through differential gene expression and the acoustic analysis of learned song. I utilize several molecular approaches to measure gene expression and protein localization in the vocal centers of the finch’s brain to better understand the molecular prerequisites to vocal learning and speech production. Students in the lab can gain experience in a variety of techniques, including histological methods, molecular staining, descriptive and quantitative microscopy, and behavioral and vocal acoustics analysis in the lab and the field. If you are interested in this sort of research I urge you to reach out to me and we can chat about possible future directions.