David M. Coppola, Ph.D. Education: Post Doc. 1985-89 Worcester Foundation for Exp. Biology, Shrewsbury, MA Ph.D. 1985 North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, Zoology & Statistics M.S. 1981 East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, Zoology B.A. 1979 University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, Biology E-mail: dcoppola@rmc.edu Office: Copley 124

Research Interests

I have varied interests in neuroscience with a common thread of trying to understand the role of neural activity in the development and adult plasticity of the human brain. More specifically, my research seeks to clarify the role of endogenous activity and sensory experience in the normal development and functional maintenance of sensory systems. Although my current National Science Foundation funded work is dominated by studies of the olfactory system in rodent model organisms, my earlier work concerns the role of visual experience in the development of carnivore and primate visual cortex.

Chemo Sense (download .pdf)

Selected Publications

Angely, C. and Coppola, D. M. (2010) How does long-term odor deprivation affect the olfactory capacity of adult mice? Behavioral & Brain Functions, 6(26):i-ij.

Kaschube, M., Schnabel, M., Löwel, S., Coppola, D.M., White, L.E., Wolf, F. (2010) Universality in the Evolution of Orientation Columns in the Visual Cortex. Science, 330(6007):1113-1116. 

Coppola, D. M. (2008) The effect of stimulus deprivation on the olfactory system: A case of use it or find it! Chemosense, 10(2):1-6

Waggener, C. and Coppola, D. M. (2007) Naris occlusion alters the electro-olfactogram: Evidence for compensatory plasticity in the olfactory system. Neuroscience Letters. 427: 112-116.

Coppola, D. M. Waguespack, A., Reems, M., Butman, M.L., Cherry, J (2006) Naris occlusion alters transductory protein immunoreactivity in olfactory epithelium. Histology & Histopathology. 21:487-501.

Waguespack, A., Reems, M., Butman, M.L., Cherry, J. Coppola, D.M. (2005). Olfactory receptor neurons have enhanced olfactory marker protein immunoreactivity in the nasal cavity ipsilateral to naris occlusion. Brain Research 1044(1):1-7.

Coppola, D. M., and White, L. E., (2004) Visual experience promotes the isotropic representation of orientation preference. Visual Neuroscience 21:39-51.

Medina, A. E., Krahe, T. E., Coppola, D. M., and Ramoa, A. (2003) Neonatal alcohol exposure induces long-lasting impairment of visual cortical plasticity in ferrets. Journal of Neuroscience 23(31):10002-10012.