Dr. Uwe Mayer CURRICULUM VITAE Born: Nationality: Languages: 12 April1980, Aktobe, Kazakhstan German German (fluent), English (fluent), Russian (native). Affiliation: University of Trento Center for Mind/Brain Sciences Piazza Manifattura 1 38068, Rovereto, Italy Contact: uwe.mayer@unitn.it 2017 - present Principal Investigator at CIMeC, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy. Topic: Structure and function of the avian hippocampus. 2013 2017 Postdoc at CIMeC, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy. Group leader: Prof. G. Vallortigara (ERC grant). Topic: Neuronal basis of social predispositions in newly-hatched chicks (Gallus gallus). 2012 2013 Postdoc at Bielefeld University, Germany Group leader: Prof. J. Engelmann. Topic: Spatial orientation of a weakly electric fish (Gnathonemus ptersii). 2008 2012 Dr.rer. nat., Bielefeld University, Germany. Advisor: Prof. H-J. Bischof. Topic: Spatial orientation and the avian hippocampus: research in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). 2006 2008 M.Sc. (Systems Biology of Brain and Behaviour), Bielefeld University, Germany. 2003 2006 B.Sc. (Biology), Bielefeld University, Germany. 2001 2002 Alternative civilian service, Von Laer Stiftung, Bielefeld, Germany. 1998 2001 Biological Technical Assistant (State-certified BTA) Abitur (German university entrance qualification) Carl-Severing-Berufskolleg, Bielefeld, Germany. 1 of 6
Research interests My research interest is to provide missing information needed for the comparative study of brain evolution and thus to contribute to the understanding of general principles of the nervous system that are not readily apparent from studies on mammals alone. For instance, birds, as a subgroup of sauropsids, possess a hippocampal area that, in contrast to its mammalian homolog, lacks a layered structure and whose anatomical subdivisions are still highly debated. Furthermore, it is not yet clear how the avian hippocampus encodes locations and if birds possess neurons comparable to mammalian place cells. Besides spatial orientation, other hippocampus related functions, such as episodic memory, transitive inference and novelty recognition, have been extensively studied in mammals, but need further investigation in other species, in order to understand its basic structural and functional components. The focus of my current research is targeting the functional aspects of the avian hippocampus and its anatomical structure, by using japanese quails (Coturnix japonica) and domestic chicks (Gallus gallus) as animal models. I am also interested in brain areas which are involved in social recognition in birds. Technical skills - Neuroanatomical, histological and immunohistochemical procedures, including brain lesioning and tracing techniques. - Mapping brain activities on the basis of immediate early genes products and behavioural testing of animals. Species: zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) 2005-2012; elephant nose fish (Gnathonemus petersii) 2012-2013; domestic chick (Gallus gallus) 2013-present; japanese quails (Coturnix japonica) 2017-present. Basic experience also with mice (Mus musculus) and guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus). - Electrophysiology: in vivo recordings (CAD, Spike2) in anaesthetised zebra finches (2012-2013, Bielefeld University, Germany). Participation in the Plexon Neurophysiology and Behaviour Workshop (April 27-30, 2015, Dallas, USA). In vivo recording (Plexon) in anaesthetised domestic chicks (2016-present, CiMEC, University of Trento, Italy). In vivo recordings in freely moving quails (2017-present, CiMEC, University of Trento, Italy). - DNA Isolation, micro-satellites applications, PCR, SDS PAGE, Western Blot, in-situ hybridisation and protein activity measurements. - Flexible software user: graphic tools (Adobe Creative Suite, ImageJ, Gimp, SketchUp), video tools (Premiere Pro, Final Cut, VirtualDub), audio tools (Cubase, LogicX Pro, WaveLab, AviSoft etc.), data acquisition and analysis tools (Zeiss ZEN, Spike2, CinePlex, OmniPlex, NeuroExplorer), web tools (KompoZer, DreamViewer, Macromedia Flash) and statistic tools (SPSS, Statistica, Graphpad). - Sound recording, microphone specifications and room acoustics (1995-present). 2 of 6
Professional activities Teaching Experience: - Organiser of a weekly neuroethology seminar for students at CIMeC (2016-present) - Teaching assistant (~40h) for the Harvard Summer School at CIMeC (July 2016). - Teaching of neuroanatomical and behavioural methods to students at CIMeC, University of Trento (2013-present). - Teaching of neuroanatomical and behavioural methods to students at University of Bielefeld (2007-2012). - Assisting in Comparative Neuroanatomy seminars (2009, 2010, 2011) organised by Prof. Hans-Joachim Bischof and PD. Dr. Martina Piefke at Bielefeld University. Invited Talks: - Mini Symposium on Laterality, CIMeC, Rovereto, Italy 09/14/2015. Title: Brain Activity Pattern Lateralisation in Chicks: Some Examples from Immediate Early Genes Studies. - Application talk at CIMeC, Rovereto, Italy 09/2012. Title: Spatial memory and the avian hippocampus: Research in zebra finches. - Neuroethology symposium held at the annual meeting of the German Zoological Society (DZG), Saarbrücken 2011, Title: Brain Activation Pattern Depending on the Strategy Chosen by Zebra Finches to Solve an Orientation Task. - 21. NeuroDoWo, Bielefeld, 2010. Title: Pattern Discrimination vs. Spatial Learning in Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Bibliometrics: - 13 published papers in peer-reviewed international journals, including Hippocampus (5.492) Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (8.580), Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (3.439), Neuroscience (3.204), European Journal of Neuroscience (2.975), Behavioural Brain Research (3.002), The Journal of Experimental Biology (2.914), Journal of Physiology Paris (2.524) and PloS ONE (3.234). Scopus H index 5 (84 total citations); Google Scholar H index 8 (153 total citations); RG H index 7 (125 total citations). Peer-Reviewer for: - Scientific Reports; Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences; Neurobiology of Learning and Memory; Neuroscience; Neuroscience Letters; Journal of Physiology Paris; PLoS ONE; Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research; Proc Natl Acad Sci India Sect B Biol Sci; PeerJ; Laterality. Member: - German Neuroscience Society (NWG) - International Society for Neuroethology (ISN) Awards: - Prize for the best poster in the division of neurobiology at the 104 th annual meeting of the German Zoological Society (DZG), Saarbrücken 2011. Other: - Played a major part in planing logistics and establishing new laboratories for neuroanatomy, immunohistochemistry, microscopy, brain lesioning/tracing, in situ hybridisation and electrophysiology procedures (2013-2014, CiMEC, University of Trento, Italy). 3 of 6
Publications (peer-reviewed): 14. Mayer U, Bhushan R, Vallortigara G, Lee SA (in submission). Representation of environmental shape in the hippocampal formation of domestic chicks (Gallus gallus). 13. Lorenzi E, Mayer U, Rosa Salva O, Vallortigara G (2017). Dynamic features of animate motion activate septal and preoptic areas in visually naïve chicks (Gallus gallus). Neuroscience. 354:54-68 12. Di Giorgio E*, Loveland JL*, Mayer U*, Rosa-Salva O*, Versace E*, Vallortigara G (2017). Filial responses as predisposed and learned preferences: Early attachment in chicks and babies. Behavioural Brain Research. 325:90-104 * These authors had equal contribution to the work and are listed in alphabetical order. 11. Mayer U, Rosa Salva O, Morbioli F, Vallortigara G (2017). The motion of an alive conspecific activates septal and preoptic areas in naive domestic chicks (Gallus gallus). European Journal of Neuroscience. 45(3):423-432 10. Mayer U, Rosa Salva O, Vallortigara G (2017). First exposure to an alive conspecific activates septal and amygdaloid nuclei in visually-naïve domestic chicks (Gallus gallus). Behavioural Brain Research. 317:71-81 9. Mayer U, Rosa Salva O, Lorenzi E, Vallortigara G (2016). Social predisposition dependent neuronal activity in the intermediate medial mesopallium of domestic chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus). Behavioural Brain Research 310: 93-102. 8. Bischof HJ*, Eckmeier D*, Keary N*, Löwel S*, Mayer U*, Michael N* (2016). Multiple Visual Field Representations in the Visual Wulst of a Laterally Eyed Bird, the Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata). PLoS ONE 11(5): e0154927. * These authors contributed equally to this work and are listed in alphabetical order 7. Mayer U, Pecchia T, Bingman VP, Flore M, Vallortigara G (2015). Hippocampus and medial striatum dissociation during goal navigation by geometry or features in the domestic chick: an immediate early gene study. Hippocampus 26(1):27-40. 6. Rosa Salva O, Mayer U, Vallortigara G (2015). Roots of a social brain: developmental models of emerging animacy-detection mechanisms. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 50:150-68. 5. Mayer U, Watanabe S, Bischof HJ (2013). Spatial memory and the avian hippocampus: research in zebra finches. Journal of Physiology Paris 107 (1-2): 2-12. 4. Mayer U, Bischof HJ (2012). Brain activation pattern depending on the strategy chosen by zebra finches to solve an orientation task. The Journal of Experimental Biology 215: 426-434. 4 of 6
3. Watanabe S, Mayer U, Bischof HJ (2011). Visual wulst analyses "where" and entopallium analyses "what" in zebra finch visual system. Behavioural Brain Research 222(1):51-56. 2. Mayer U, Watanabe S, Bischof HJ (2010). Hippocampal activation of immediate early genes zenk and c-fos in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) during learning and recall of a spatial memory task. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 93(3):322-9. 1. Watanabe S, Mayer U, Bischof HJ (2008). Pattern discrimination is affected by entopallial but not by hippocampal lesions in zebra finches. Behavioural Brain Research 190: 201-205. Poster presentations at conferences (2014-2017): - Mayer U, Bhushan R, Vallortigara G, Lee SA. Representation of environmental shape in the hippocampal formation of domestic chicks. Cogevo 2016, Rovereto, Italy - Morbioli F, Mayer U, Rosa Salva O, Vallortigara G. Septal response to the motion of an alive conspecific in visually naive chicks (Gallus gallus). Cogevo 2016, Rovereto, Italy - Mayer U, Bhushan R, Vallortigara G, Lee SA. Representation of environmental shape in the hippocampal formation of domestic chicks. inav 2016 - Bad Gastein, Austria. - Mayer U, Chiandetti C, Boschetti E, Trainito C, Vallortigara G. Hippocampal formation involvement in encoding quantities in domestic chicks (Gallus gallus) revealed by c-fos as neuronal activity marker. CAOs 2016 - Rovereto Workshop on Concepts, Actions, and Objects, Rovereto, Italy. - Mayer U, Rosa Salva O, Morbioli F, Vallortigara G. Septal Response to the First Exposure to the Motion of an Alive Conspecific In Naive Domestic Chicks. ECCN 2016-8th European Conference on Comparative Neurobiology, Munich, Germany. - Rosa Salva O, Mayer U and Giorgio Vallortigara. Brain activity in chicks exposed to a predisposed or a non-predisposed social stimulus: an immediate early gene expression study. ECCN 2016-8th European Conference on Comparative Neurobiology, Munich, Germany. - Lorenzi E, Mayer U, Rosa Salva O, Grassi M, Regolin L, Vallortigara G. Higher activity in the right septum of chicks (Gallus gallus) exposed to elementary motion cues related to animacy perception. The XII International Congress for Neuroethology: (ICN) March 30 - April 3, 2016 Montevideo, Uruguay - Mayer U, Rosa Salva O, Dorigatti S, Vallortigara G. Lateral Septum responds to the first exposure to a live social partner in naive domestic chicks (Gallus gallus). EBBS - European Brain and Behaviour Society Joint Meeting 2015, Verona, Italy - Lorenzi E, Rosa Salva O, Mayer U, Grassi M, Regolin L, Vallortigara G. Neural correlates of animate motion predispositions in chicks (Gallus gallus). SIE 2015 - XXVI Convegno Nazionale della Società Italiana di Etologia, Parma, Italy - Boschetti E, Mayer U, Trainito C, Chiandetti C, Vallortigara G. Neuronal basis of numerical cognition in the domestic chick (Gallus gallus). Trieste Symposium on Perception and Cognition 2015, Italy - Lorenzi E, Mayer U, Rosa Salva O, Vallortigara G. Lateral Septum in visually naïve chicks responds to animacy. Neuroethology: Behavior, Evolution and Neurobiology (GRS) June 27-28,2015 Lucca (Barga), Italy - Lorenzi E, Mayer U, Rosa Salva O, Vallortigara G. Septum in visually naïve chicks responds to animacy. workshop - INSECT models of BEHAVIOUR 4th September, 2015 Rovereto (TN), Italy - Lorenzi E, Mayer U, Rosa Salva O, Vallortigara G. Lateral septum responds to self-propelled motion in naïve chicks. EBBS - European Brain and Behaviour Society joint meeting September 12-15, 2015 Verona, Italy - Lorenzi E, Mayer U, Rosa Salva O, Vallortigara G. A neuronal activity marker c-fos reveals higher activity in septum of chicks exposed to animacy motion cues. Trieste Symposium on Perception and Cognition (TSPC) November 13, 2015 Trieste, Italy 5 of 6
- Bhushan R, Mayer U, Vallortigara G, Lee SA. Environmental novelty and c-fos activation in the avian hippocampus. Conference/ Course: Aging Brain, Torino, 2015, Italy - Bhushan R, Mayer U, Vallortigara G, Lee SA. Environmental novelty and c-fos activation in the avian hippocampus. Donders Discussions 2015, Nijmegen, Netherlands - Mayer U, Rosa Salva O, Vallortigara G. Social predisposition in chicks and their neuronal correlates as revealed by immediate early gene expression. Cogevo 2014, Rovereto, Italy - Gianni E, Mayer U, Lee SA, Vallortigara G. Behavioral and neural correlates of reorientation by boundaries and features. Cogevo 2014, Rovereto, Italy - Mayer U, Rosa Salva O, Vallortigara G. Unlearned social predisposition in chicks and their neuronal correlates as revealed by immediate early gene expression. ISIS, Conference 2014 - Berlin, Germany - Mayer U, Rosa Salva O, Vallortigara G. Different brain activity, measured by immediate early genes (IEGs) expression, in chicks exposed to a predisposed or a non-predisposed social stimulus. 11th international congress of neuroethology 2014, Saporo, Japan 6 of 6