Research

My laboratory's research is on the regulation of form (neuroanatomy) and function (physiology) in the nervous system. We use insect models to study how hormones and experience "fine tune" the brain during and after metamorphosis. We use two model systems. The tobacco hornworm moth, Manduca sexta, is our primary model for the study of metamorphosis, and the honey bee, Apis mellifera, is our model for the study of how learning changes the brain. The complex behavior of honey bees allows us to study brain/behavior relationships in a natural, non-laboratory context. Our research tools include immunocytochemistry, classic neuroanatomical methods such as the Golgi technique, and modern molecular approaches including in situ hybridization, quantitative RT-PCR, and the regulation of gene expression in cultures of primary neurons.

I am very interested in recruiting new graduate students. Please contact me by email at fahrbach@wfu.edu.

Selected Publications

Ward, K.N., Coleman, J.L., Clinnin, K., Fahrbach, S., and Rueppell, O. 2008. Age, caste, and behavior determine the replicative activity of intestinal stem cells in honeybees (Apis mellifera L.). Experimental Gerontology 43: 530-537.

Ismail, N., Christine, S., Robinson, G.E., and Fahrbach, S.E. 2008. Pilocarpine improves recognition of nestmates in young honey bees. Neuroscience Letters 439: 178-181.

Fahrbach, S.E. and Dobrin, S. 2008. The how and why of structural plasticity in the honey bee brain, In: Cognitive Ecology II, edited by Reuven Dukas and John Ratcliffe. University of Chicago Press, in press

Himes, K.E., Klukas, K.A., Fahrbach, S.E., and Mesce, K.A. 2008. Hormone-dependent expression of fasciclin II during ganglionic migration and fusion in the ventral nerve cord of the moth, Manduca sexta. Journal of Comparative Neurology 509: 319-339.

Velarde, R.A., Robinson, G.E., and Fahrbach, S.E. (2006) Nuclear receptors of the honey bee: annotation and expression in the adult brain. Insect Molecular Biology 15:585-595.

The Honeybee Genome Sequencing Consortium et al. (2006) Insights into social insects from the genome of the honeybee Apis mellifera. Nature 443:931-949.

Fahrbach, S.E. 2006. Structure of the mushroom bodies of the insect brain. Annual Review of Entomology 51:209-232.

Ismail, N., Robinson, G.E., Fahrbach, S.E. 2006. Stimulation of muscarinic receptors mimics experience-dependent plasticity in the honey bee brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 103:207-211 .

Velarde, R.A., Sauer, C.D., Walden, K.K.O., Fahrbach, S.E., and Robertson, H.M. 2005. Pteropsin: A vertebrate-like non-visual opsin expressed in the honey bee brain. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 35:1367-1377.

Fahrbach, S.E. and Mesce, K.A. 2005. “Neuroethoendocrinology”: integration of field and laboratory studies in insect neuroendocrinology. Hormones and Behavior 48:352-359.

Fahrbach, S. E. 2004. A neuroscientist thinks about menopause (If her hormones are willing). Cerebrum, Winter 2004, pp. 35-50.

Fahrbach, S.E. 2004. What arthropod brains say about arthropod phylogeny. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 101:3723-3724.

Fahrbach, S.E. 2003. A taste for learning? Journal of Comparative Neurology 465:164-167.

Sullivan, J.P. Fahrbach, S.E., Harrison, J.F., Capaldi, E.A., Fewell, J.H., and Robinson, G.E. 2003. Juvenile hormone and division of labor in the honey bee: Effects of allatectomy on flight behavior and metabolism. Journal of Experimental Biology 206:2287-2296.

Fahrbach, S.E., Farris, S.M., Sullivan, J.P., and Robinson, G.E. 2003. Limits on volume changes in the mushroom bodies of the honey bee brain. Journal of Neurobiology 57:141-151.

Bloch, G., Solomon, S.M., Robinson, G.E., and Fahrbach, S.E. 2003. Identification of neurons with potential importance for socially-mediated chronobiological plasticity in the honey bee: immunostaining with antibodies against the PERIOD protein and pigment-dispersing hormone. Journal of Comparative Neurology 464:269-284.

Wang C.M., Chen C.L., Robertson H.M., and Fahrbach S.E. 2003. A new member of the GM130 golgin subfamily is expressed in the optic lobe anlagen of the metamorphosing brain of Manduca sexta. Journal of Insect Science 3:35, Available online: insectscience.org/3.35.