Ginger S. Withers
CURRICULUM VITÆ
Ginger Withers
Dr. Robert F. Welty Associate Professor of Biology
Whitman College, Walla Walla WA 99362
(509) 527-5053; Fax –5904, withergs@whitman.edu
EDUCATION AND DEGREES
Ph.D., Neuroscience, Univ. Illinois, Champaign, IL 1993
A.M., Psychology, Univ. Illinois, Champaign, IL 1986
B.A., Cum Laude, Muskingum College, New Concord, OH 1983
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Whitman College
Associate Professor of Biology, 2007 – present
Chair, Biology Department, 2007 – present
Assistant Professor of Biology, 2001 – 2007Oregon Health and Science University
Staff Scientist, 2007 – present
Research Assistant Scientist, 1998 – 2006National Science Foundation Nanobiotechnology Center
Faculty Member, 6/2005 – presentPostdoctoral Advisor
Dr. Gary Banker, Univ. Virginia 1993 – 1997Doctoral Thesis Advisors
Dr. Susan Fahrbach and Dr. Gene Robinson Univ. Illinois 1989 – 1993Master’s Thesis Advisor
Dr. William Greenough, Univ. Illinois 1983 – 1988
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Understanding the cellular mechanisms that control brain cell development. Specific interests focus on the development of the dendritic arbor (the receiving part of the neuron). My research investigates how new branches form, and how the growth of the dendritic arbor is regulated by extrinsic cues. The regulation of dendritic growth profoundly affects the pattern of connections that are formed between neurons, and thus is related directly to cognitive function. It is my goal to relate these basic findings to dendritic development in humans to further our understanding of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders like mental retardation and Alzheimer’s disease.
CURRENT FUNDING
NSF, Career Award #0135985: Imaging Mechanisms of Dendritic Development in Living Neurons ($549,995, 2002 – 2007)
NSF, Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU, $24,000, summers 2004, 2005, 2006)
NSF Nanobiotechnology Center Program, Design of a “Spatial Trap” To Selectively Control Dendritic Development In Neurons, PI, Withers ($100,000, 1/2006 – 12/2007).
ACADEMIC AWARDS and OTHER DISTINCTIONS
2007 – present, Dr. Robert F. Welty Chaired Associate Professorship
1996 – 1998 Spinal Cord Research Foundation Grant
1997 Analytical and Quantitative Microscopy, Woods Hole, MA
1996 Paralyzed Veterans of America Young Investigator Award
1994 Finalist, Donald B. Lindsley Prize in Behavioral Neuroscience
1994-1996 NIH National Research Service Award
1993 Capranica Prize in Neuroethology
1992 Grass Travel Award, International Congress of Neuroethology
1992 University of Illinois Sigma Xi Travel Award
1992 Women in Neuroscience Travel Award
1991 University of Illinois Neuroscience Student Research Grant
1990 University of Illinois School of Life Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award
1989 University of Illinois Neuroscience Merit Award
COURSES TAUGHT
Developmental Biology, 2002 – present
Neurobiology, 2002 – present
Guest lecturer, Principles of Biology, 2002 – present
Instructor, Neurobiology Course, Marine Biology Laboratories, Woods Hole, MA 1996
Principles of Biology Laboratory, I & II, Univ. Illinois 1989 – 1990
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY
Columbia Genome Consortium, Society for Neuroscience, International Brain Research Organization, American Society for Cell Biology, Sigma Xi, Faculty in Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN), Council on Undergraduate Research
PEER REVIEW ACTIVITY
National Science Foundation, Integrative and Organizational Biology, Cellular, Molecular and Developmental Neuroscience Clusters, Panel reviewer Fall 2005, Spring 2006, Fall 2006
National Science Foundation, ad hoc reviewer for Integrative and Organizational Biology, Developmental Neuroscience Cluster and Behavioral Neuroscience Program, 2003, 2004, 2005
National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education, CCLI Panel reviewer, 2004, 2005
Alzheimer’s Foundation, 2001. 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
Murdock Foundation, 2004
European Journal of Neuroscience, 2005
Brain Cell Biology, 2006
PUBLICATIONS (undergraduate co-authors indicated with *)
INVITED COMMENTARY
Withers, G.S. 2006. New ways to print living cells promise breakthroughs for engineering complex tissues in vitro. Biochemical Journal 394, e1-2.
SCIENCE EDUCATION PUBLICATION
Withers, G.S., Wallace, C.S. (2007, in press) Inexpensive Digital Microscopy Workstations Engage Students in Integrative Biology. in A. Mendez-Vilas, J. Diaz (Eds.) Modern Research and Educational Topics in Microscopy,3rd Ed.
PEER-REVIEWED RESEARCH PAPERS
Withers, G.S., Day, N.F.*, Talbot, E.*, Dobson, H.E.M., Wallace, C.S. 2008 (in press). Experience- dependent plasticity in the mushroom bodies of the solitary bee Osmia lignaria (Megachilidae). Developmental Neurobiology, October 2007 epub.
Withers, G.S., James, C.D., Kingman, C.E., Craighead, H.G., Banker, G.A. 2006. Effects of substrate geometry on growth cone behavior and axon branching, Journal of Neurobiology, 66, 1183-1194.
Wallace, C.S., Reitzenstein, J*. Withers, G.S. 2003. Diminished experience-dependent neuroanatomical plasticity: Evidence for an improved biomarker of subtle neurotoxic damage to the developing rat brain. Environmental Health Perspectives, 111, 1294 – 1298.
Withers, G.S., Higgins, D., Charette, M., Banker, G. 2000. Bone morphogenetic protein osteogenic protein-1 (OP-1) stimulates dendritic growth and synaptogenesis in cultured hippocampal neurons. European Journal of Neuroscience, 12, 106-116.
Grewal, S.S., Horgan, A.M., York, R.D., Withers, G.S., Banker, G.A., Stork, P.J. 2000. Neuronal calcium activates a rap1 and B-Raf signaling pathway via the cyclic adenosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 275, 3722-3728.
James, C.D., Davis, R.C., Meyer, M., Perez, A., Turner, S. Withers, G., Kam, L., Banker, G., Craighead, H.G., Isaacson, M., Turner, J.N., Shain, W. 2000. Aligned microcontact printing of micrometer-scale poly-L-lysine structures for controlled growth of cultured neurons on planar microelectrode arrays. IEEE Transactions in Biomedical Engineering, 47, 17-21.
Withers, G.S., George, J.M., Banker, G.A., Clayton, D.F. 1997. Delayed localization of synelfin (synuclein, NACP) to presynaptic terminals in cultured rat hippocampal neurons. Developmental Brain Research, 99, 87-94.
Wallace, C.S., Withers, G.S., Weiler, I.J., George, J.M., Clayton, D.F., Greenough, W.T. 1995. Correspondence between sites of NGFI-A induction and sites of morphological plasticity following exposure to environmental complexity. Molecular Brain Research, 32, 211-220.
Withers, G.S., Fahrbach, S.E., Robinson, G.E. 1995. Effect of experience on the organization of the mushroom bodies of honey bees. Journal of Neurobiology, 26, 130-144.
Withers, G.S., Fahrbach, S.E., Robinson, G.E. 1993. Selective neuroanatomical plasticity and division of labour in the honey bee. Nature, 364, 238-240.
Wallace, C.S., Kilman, V.L.*, Withers, G.S., Greenough, W.T. 1992. Increases in dendritic length following a brief period of differential housing in weaning rats. Behavioral and Neural Biology, 58, 64-68.
Withers, G.S., Greenough, W.T. 1989. Reach training selectively alters dendritic branching in subpopulations of layer II-III pyramids in rat motor-somatosensory forelimb cortex. Neuropsychologia, 27, 61-69.
Camel, J.E., Withers, G.S., Greenough, W.T. 1986. Persistence of visual cortex dendritic alterations induced by postweaning exposure to a “superenriched” environment in rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 100, 810-813.
Greenough, W.T., Larson, J.R., Withers, G.S. 1985. Effects of unilateral and bilateral training in a reaching task on dendritic branching of neurons in the rat motor-sensory forelimb cortex. Behavioral and Neural Biology, 34, 301-314.
BOOK CHAPTERS
Withers, G.S. and Banker, G. 1998. Characterizing and studying neuronal cultures. In Banker, G. and Goslin, K. (Eds.) Culturing Nerve Cells 2nd Edition, The MIT Press:Cambridge, pp113-151.
Greenough, W.T., Wallace, C.S., Alcantara, A.A., Anderson, B.J., Hawrylak, N., Sirevaag, A.M., Weiler, I.J., Withers, G.S. 1992. Development of the brain: Experience affects the structure of neurons, glia and blood vessels. In Anastasiow, N.& Harel, S. (Eds.), Proceedings from the 3rd International Workshop on the At Risk Infant, Paul H. Brooks:Baltimore, pps. 173 – 185.
Greenough, W.T., Withers, G.S., Anderson, B.A. 1991. Experience-dependent synaptogenesis as a plausible memory mechanism. In Harvey, J.A. & Gormezano, I. (Eds.), Learning and Memory: The Biological Substrates, Lawrence Earlbaum Assoc.:Hillsdale.
Greenough, W.T., Withers, G.S., Wallace, C.S. 1990. Morphological changes in the nervous system arising from behavioral experience: What is the evidence that they are involved in learning and memory? In Squire, L.R. & Lindenlaub, E. (Eds.), The Biology of Memory, Symposia Medica Hoescht 23, F.K. Schattauder Verlag:Stuttgart-New York, pp 159-183.
SELECTED RECENT ABSTRACTS
Withers, G.S., Mumford, M.C.*, Pounds, J.* 2006. Selective patterning of N-cadherin orients the formation of the dendritic arbor in cultured hippocampal neurons. J. Neurochem. 96 (S1) 117.
Changstrom, B.G.*, Gibbs, E.M.*, Withers, G.S. 2005. Disruption of Actin Polymerization Suggests Two Mechanisms of Dendritic Branch Formation in Neurons. American Society for Cell Biology Meeting Abstracts, p. 678a.
Day, N.F.*, Talbot, E.* Dobson, H.E.M., Wallace, C.S., Withers, G.S. 2005. Separating experience-expectant organization from experience-expectant plasticity in the mushroom bodies of the solitary bee Osmia lignaria. Annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting Undergraduate Poster Session, Washington DC, Nov. 11- 15.
Wallace, C.S., Withers, G.S. 2004. Affordable digital microscopy workstations engage students in integrative biology. Crossing Boundaries: Innovations in Undergraduate Research, the 10th National Conference Proceedings, Council on Undergraduate Research, p 23.
Withers, G.S. Wallace, C.S. 2003. An affordable imaging system introduces undergraduates to digital microscopy. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, 33, 25.7.
MANUSCRIPTS IN PREPARATION
Changstrom, B.* Gibbs, E.*, Withers, G.S. The role of the actin cytoskeleton in the formation of dendritic branches.
Kollins, K.M., Bell, R. L. *Butts, M*, Withers, G.S Dendrites differ from axons in patterns of microtubule stability and polymerization during development of cultured hippocampal neurons
INVITED SEMINAR AND SYMPOSIUM PRESENTATIONS
CROET Seminar Series, Oregon Health and Science University, Nov. 20, 2006: “Engineering the dendritic arbor of neurons: New approaches to study the regulation of dendritic growth”
University of Illinois, Symposium: Growth Points in the Study of Genes, Brain and Behavior, September 16, 2005, “Design of a spatial trap and other tricks to study neuron development”
Cornell University Nanobiotechnology Seminar Series, March 15, 2005, “Engineering the dendritic arbor of neurons through nanobiotechnology”
U. Maryland, Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, Sept. 17, 2004 “Building the dendritic arbor: New views from living neurons”
Lake Forest College, Department of Biology and Summer Research Program, Lake Forest, IL, July 7, 2004 “A model of how new dendritic branches form in neurons”
U. Idaho, Department of Biology, March 26, 2004, “New views of dendritic development in living neurons”