Abel Bult-Ito's Home Page Academic Background and Degrees: Employment Teaching Experience Master's and Ph.D. Studies Undergraduate Research Student Awards Peer-Reviewed Publications Published Meeting Abstracts Invited Seminars and Symposia Research Funding Awards Honors Public Service University Service Scholarly Service Memberships Research Interests Peer-Reviewed Publication Abstracts

Abel Bult-Ito, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Biology Behavioral and Evolutionary Neuroscience Laboratory Alaskan Basic Neuroscience Program Institute of Arctic Biology & Department of Biology and Wildlife University of Alaska Fairbanks P.O. Box 757000 Fairbanks, AK 99775-7000 Tel: 907-474-7158 Fax: 907-474-6967 E-mail: ffab@uaf.edu

Research Interests:

My research program currently focuses on the neural regulation of thermoregulation and circadian (24-h) rhythms in mice and red-backed voles. These traits represent key adaptations to the extreme environments in Alaska. Unique mouse strains are employed that were bidirectionally selected for thermoregulatory nest-building behavior. Selection resulted in a 40-fold difference between the big and small nest-builders in the amount of cotton used for a nest. In addition, the big and small nest-builders are different in their circadian activity patterns and neuroanatomical features of the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus, the circadian clock in mammals. A major goal of the research program is to identify causal relationships between the behavioral and neuroanatomical differences between the selected lines employing behavioral, neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, and molecular approaches. We are also currently describing the circadian activity patterns and suprachiasmatic nucleus neuroanatomy of the northern red-backed vole, Clethrionomys rutilus, with the goal to investigate circadian rhythm adaptations to the arctic.