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William Roberts, Mentor
Biology / Neuroscience

Brandon Oberlin, McNair Scholar

Associate Professor William Roberts explores the nature of signal processing in sensory systems, synaptic transmission, and calcium signaling. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego in 1979, and joined the UO Department of Biology in 1989 and has since become part of the interdisciplinary Institute of Neuroscience. Of particular interest has been electrical resonance in hair cells, the role of calcium as a rapid, short-range intracellular messenger, and the physiology and anatomy of the hair cell’s synapses onto afferent axons. Major publications include: “Sodium Channel Distribution on Uninnervated and Innervated Embryonic Skeletal Myotubes” (with B. D. Anson) Journal of Neurobiology (2001); and “Calretinin Modifies Presynaptic Calcium Signaling in Frog Saccular Hair Cells” (with B. Edmonds, R. Reyes, and B. Schwaller) Nature Neuroscience (2000).