Dr. Brett Berke
Associate Professor of Biology (2015)
Spring 2025 (Zoom and F2F; https://truman-edu.zoom.us/j/3226642392)
Mon 9:30-10:30
Tues 3-4:30
Wed 8:30-10:30
Thurs 2:30-4:30
Appointments can also be scheduled upon request
B.S., Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaigne - 1991-1996
Ph.D., Neuroscience, University of Iowa - 1996-2004
Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Yale University - 2004-2015
During Dr. Berke's undergraduate education for electrical engineering, he realized his love of neurobiology and switched fields. He eventually decided to use Drosophila (fruit fly) to study the genetic determinants of axon guidance and Ca-dependent neuronal growth (during his PhD) and the roles of retrograde signaling at synapses (during is post-doc).
Research in the Berke Lab uses the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster to investigate the genetic mechanisms underlying several important aspects of neurobiology:
1. we study emerging roles for new molecules at the well-established larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ),
2. we use the simple locomotion of Drosophila larvae to examine the genetic basis for decision making (higher level regulation of crawling), and
3. we are testing hypotheses to explain why only subsets of neurons die in fly models of neurodegenerative disease.
Recent publications from the Berke lab include:
Galbraith, A.; Leone, S.; Stuart, K.; Emery, J.; Renkemeyer, M.K.; Pritchett, N.; Galbraith, L.; Stuckmeyer, H.; Berke, B. (2021). Reducing the expression of the Numb adaptor protein in neurons increases the searching behavior of Drosophila larvae. microPublication Biology. 10.17912/micropub.biology.000426.
Thies and B. Berke. (2020) Roles of the Fem-1 gene in Drosophila melanogaster adult courtship and neuromuscular junction development. (2020). Impulse. ISSN: 1934-3361.
E.M. McNeill, C. Thompson, B. Berke, V.T. Chou, J. Rusch, A. Duckworth, J. DeProto, A. Taylor, J. Gates, M. Peifer, H.
Keshishian, and D. Van Vactor. (2020) Drosophila Enabled Promotes Synapse Morphogenesis and Regulates Active Zone Form and Function. Neural Development, 15:4.
B. Berke, L. Le, and H. Keshishian. (2020) Target-Dependent Retrograde Signaling Mediates Synaptic Plasticity at the Drosophila Neuromuscular Junction. Develop. Neurobiol. 77(11-12):895-912.
Courses that Dr. Berke has taught at Truman include:
Introductory Biology I (BIOL107)
Freshman Seminar (BIOL145)
Introduction to Writing About Biology (BIOL210)
Animal Physiology (BIOL315)
Principles of Human Physiology (BIOL322)
Cell Biology (BIOL330)
Neurobiology (BIOL333)
Molecular Pharmacology (BIOL334)
Writing About Biology (BIOL349)
Independent Study on PTSD (BiIOL444)
Revieweing Scientific Literature (BIOL444)
Research for credit (BIOL441-443)
Advanced Neurobiology (BIOL518/518G)
Scientific Writing (BIOL601G)
Graduate Seminar (BIOL606/7G, 616/617G)