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Welcome to my page
I’m a graduate student in the lab of Fernando Nottebohm at the Rockefeller University in NYC. We study, amongst other things, the neural mechanisms for vocal learning and the intricacies of adult neurogenesis using several species of songbird. I am interested in the brain’s capacity for repair, especially repair that can restore function. My thesis project uses the well-mapped song system of the zebra finch and a cool technique to explore the potential role of adult-born neurons in functional brain repair.
News
Transgenic songbirds? No problem! Thanks to the recent efforts of Dr Agate in the Nottebohm lab the molecular toolkit available to songbird researchers has just expanded.
My science
Scientific Posters
 Walton C, Alvarez-Borda B & Nottebohm F. Presented at the 2008 Gordon Research Conference in Neuroethology: Behavior, Evolution & Neurobiology, Oxford, UK. |  Walton C, Pariser E & Nottebohm F. Presented at the 2009 Meeting of the Society of Neuroscience, Chicago, IL |
Why songbirds?
The connected song system just pops right out!
Firstly, they are awesome. They are one of a few species, ourselves included, that are capable of vocal learning. And by vocal learning I mean the ability to modify one’s vocalizations based on auditory experience. This process is vital for human speech and if our brains weren’t capable of such a feat, the world would be a very different place. Other mammals that can perform this kind of learning include bats, dolphins, whales, seals and most recently documented elephants (including one messed up African elephant who tries to talk to the park ranger’s truck).
Vocal learning allows us to take in sounds produced by others of our species and match those sounds in order to communicate. It is not surprising that this complex behavior only seems to have arisen in social species. Songbirds may not be capable of producing language as we humans know it, but there are many parallels between the way we learn to speak and the way a young bird learns to sing. Both processes require exposure to the desired sounds from a tutor or parent during a critical period in development and social cues from that instructor are important to guide learning of the correct sounds. Experimenting with the vocal organ is also a key step in the process; babies babble and so do baby birds. We’ve come a long way to understanding the neural circuits involved in song learning. There is a discreet set of connected nuclei that appears to be dedicated to the task. While these circuits are not identical to those in the human brain, there are likely to be many similarities in the way neurons work together to master control of the vocal machinery. We can’t poke and prod the brains of our infant children, so it seems doing just that with songbirds might be the next best thing.
How did I get here?
I’m not one of those people who can say that even as a five year old playing with earthworms in the dirt that I always wanted to be a neuroscientist. In fact I’m not sure I can ever say that I’ve wanted to be one. Neuroscience has kind of found me, and boy I’m glad it did. Schooling in the UK is unusual in that you are expected to know your calling in life at the age of 16. Students are expected to drop three quarters of all classes as they make the potentially disastrous decision of choosing their 3 A-level subjects. When it came to my turn I was torn; art and graphic design or the sciences? Art was my passion but my head won out and soon I was heading to Oxford to do my undergrad degree in biochemistry. Biochemisty Schmiochemisty. I loved it at the start, but 4 years of protein-protein interactions and structure-function relationships had me wanting to run for the hills and never look back at journal articles, NMR spectra or PCR machines ever again. That’s when, during a well timed summer vacation, I fell in love with New York City and decided I would be happy playing with pipettes for all eternity if I could be surrounded by the hustle and lights of the big apple.
The Rockefeller University is a fantastic graduate school, especially for those of us who may not know exactly what kind of research they would like to pursue. With no departments, students are able to flit between vastly different fields until they find their niche, and thank heavens for that. I came in a biochemistry major with vague plans to work in cell biology on nothing more advanced than a fruitfly and now I am an extremely happy and fulfilled member of the laboratory of Animal Behavior working on adult neurogenesis and brain repair in songbirds.