Assistant Professor
Email: dstorace@fsu.edu
Dr. Storace completed his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Heather Read at the University of Connecticut. His dissertation focused on anatomical and genetic markers to distinguish functionally distinct auditory cortical fields. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Lawrence Cohen at Yale University using genetically encoded voltage and calcium indicators to understand how odor signals are transformed by the olfactory bulb. He began his own laboratory at Florida State University in 2019 which uses the olfactory system as a model to define how sensory information is transformed by neural circuits.
Ph.D. Candidate
Email: mqi@bio.fsu.edu
My research is motivated by the interesting phenomenon that behavior of animals is modulated by their metabolic state. For example, the olfactory perception of obese mice is different from that of wild type. My dissertation is focused on understanding one possible neural pathway that links an organism’s metabolic state and sensory processing. Using tract tracing and immunohistochemical approaches I have comprehensively characterized the orexinergic pathway from the hypothalamus to the olfactory bulb, which may serve as a mechanism linking metabolic and sensory processing.