Nicholas Strausfeld

About

Nicholas Strausfeld is a Regents Professor in Neuroscience at the University of Arizona. His research focuses on the function and organization of arthropod central nervous systems, with particular interest in learning and memory. As a prominent figure in the field, he contributes to advancing understanding of neural systems in insects and other arthropods, integrating neurobiological insights into broader biological contexts.

Research topics

• Biology
• Genetics
• Zoology
• Ecology
• Neuroscience
• Evolutionary biology
• Medicine
• Anatomy
• Immunology
• Paleontology

Selected publications

• Mushroom body evolution demonstrates homology and divergence across Pancrustacea

  eLife · 2020 · 83 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  and other hexapods, contain networks essential for learning and memory.

  PublisherDOI

• A Toll-receptor map underlies structural brain plasticity

  eLife · 2020 · 80 citations

  at the adult critical period increased brain size. Through their topographic distribution, Toll receptors regulate neuronal number and brain size, modulating structural plasticity in the adult brain.

  PublisherDOI

• Ancestral regulatory mechanisms specify conserved midbrain circuitry in arthropods and vertebrates

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2020-08-03 · 33 citations

  articleOpen access

  Significance Comparative developmental genetics indicate insect and mammalian forebrains form and function in comparable ways. However, these data are open to opposing interpretations that advocate either a single origin of the brain and its adaptive modification during animal evolution; or multiple, independent origins of the many different brains present in extant Bilateria. Here, we describe conserved regulatory elements that mediate the spatiotemporal expression of developmental control gene…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The lower Cambrian lobopodian<i>Cardiodictyon</i>resolves the origin of euarthropod brains

  Science · 2022-11-24 · 27 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  For more than a century, the origin and evolution of the arthropod head and brain have eluded a unifying rationale reconciling divergent morphologies and phylogenetic relationships. Here, clarification is provided by the fossilized nervous system of the lower Cambrian lobopodian Cardiodictyon catenulum , which reveals an unsegmented head and brain comprising three cephalic domains, distinct from the metameric ventral nervous system serving its appendicular trunk. Each domain aligns with one of t…

  PublisherDOI

• Leanchoiliidae reveals the ancestral organization of the stem euarthropod brain

  Current Biology · 2021-08-19 · 25 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Origin and Evolutionary Divergence of the Pancrustacean Brain

  NSF · $712k · 2018–2023

• NIH Grant R01RR008688

  NIH · $4.4M · 2011

• NIH Grant R01EY007151

  NIH · $731k · 1992

Frequent coauthors

• Xiaoya Ma

  University of Exeter

  26 shared

• Irina Sinakevitch

  University of Arizona

  19 shared

• Gabriella H. Wolff

  University of Washington

  17 shared

• Gregory D. Edgecombe

  16 shared

• Marcel E. Sayre

  University of Queensland

  15 shared

• Xianguang Hou

  Qingdao University

  14 shared

• John K. Douglass

  Eglin Air Force Base

  13 shared

• Yongsheng Li

  China Tobacco

  12 shared

Labs

• Nicholas Strausfeld LaboratoryPI

Similar researchers at University of Arizona

• Bruce Tabashnikh-94
• Anna Dornhaush-54
• Daniel Papajh-49