Education

B.S., Life Science, Arizona State University, Glendale, AZ, 2001
Ph.D., Neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin, 2007
FIRST Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biology, Emory College, 2007-2009

Research Statement

Auditory evoked behavior, such as a mother mouse retrieving a pup that has wandered from the nest or a female approaching a male to mate, requires that the animal be in a particular behavioral or physiological state and that the stimulus occurs in a particular context. This phenomenon is found across vertebrate taxa and suggests that auditory processing that leads to natural behavior is a dynamic process. My specific interests lie in how neural plasticity, arising from changes in reproductive state or social environment, influences the encoding, decoding and perception of natural auditory stimuli. I will address these questions in the auditory cortex of a mouse model for maternal behavior where auditory communication largely occurs through ultrasonic vocalizations.

Publications

Miranda, J.A. & Liu, R.C.  (2009)  Dissecting natural sensory plasticity: hormones and experience in a maternal context. Hearing Research, 252(1-2):21-8.

Miranda, J.A. & Wilczynski, W. ( 2009) Sex differences and androgen influences on midbrain auditory thresholds in the green treefrog, Hyla cinerea. Hearing Research DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2009.04.004.

Miranda, J.A. & Wilczynski, W. (2009) Female reproductive state influences the auditory midbrain response. Journal of Comparative Physiology, A. 195(4), 341-349.

Miranda, J.A., Oliveira, R.F., Carneiro, L.A., Santos, R.S., Grober, M.S. (2003) Neurochemical correlates of male polymorphism and alternative reproductive tactics in the Azorean rock-pool blenny, Parablennius parvicornis. Gen Comp Endocrinol., 132(2):183-9.

Oliveira, R.F., Carvalho, N., Miranda, J., Gonçalves, E.J., Grober, M., Santos, R.S. (2002) The relationship between the presence of satellite males and nest-holders' mating success in the Azorean rock-pool blenny, Parablennius sanguinolentus parvicornis. Ethology, 108:223-235.

Kishida, M., Mclellan, M., Miranda, J.A., Callard, G.V. (2001) Estrogen and xenoestrogens upregulate the brain aromatase isoform (P450aromB) and perturb markers of early development in zebrafish (Danio rerio). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part B: Boichemistry and Molecular Biology, 129:261-268.

Oliveira, R.F., Miranda, J.A., Carvalho, N., Gonçalves, E.J., Grober, M.S., Santos, R.S. (2000) Male mating success in the Azorean rock-pool blenny, Parablennius sanguinolentus parvicornis: the effects of body size, male behavior and nest characteristics. Journal of Fish Biology, 57:1416-1428.

Pfizer Corporation
Cambridge, United Kingdom
Email: miranda.jason.a@gmail.com