蜜桃影像

Dr. James Buchanan蜜桃影像

MilwaukeeWI53201United States of America

Emeritus Professor

Faculty 1989-2019

Dr. Buchanan was inspired to study the nervous system in a linguistics class he took while earning his bachelor's in Biology at Colorado College in 1976. He thought that perhaps the unique behavior of human speech could be better understood by studying the basic principles of motor systems. He received his PhD in Neural Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis in 1981 in the lab of Carl Rovainen. There, Jim was introduced to the lamprey, a primitive jawless vertebrate, which diverged from other vertebrates some 550 million years ago. The lamprey has a nervous system organized like our own but is small enough to survive when isolated in a dish of saline, and the isolated nervous system can exhibit the neural correlates of several behaviors. It amazed him to witness the beautifully-coordinated, clock-like rhythm of swimming activity in motor nerves of the isolated spinal cord of the lamprey in the absence of brain, muscles, and sensory feedback. The motivation for his research was that by studying this simpler, more elemental form of the locomotor network in lamprey, we could have a better chance at understanding the cellular mechanisms underlying locomotion in all vertebrates, and perhaps the fundamental principles of motor patterns in general. 

Following graduate school, Dr. Buchanan did postdoctoral research at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins from 1982 to 1985, where he examined spinal regeneration in rodents. He then returned to my main research interest in lamprey locomotion in the lab of Sten Grillner at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden from 1985-1987.  When he completed his postdoctoral position in Sweden, he spent 3 months backpacking across Europe, Russia, and China. Upon returning to the US, Dr. Buchanan worked as an Instructor and researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, TX, where his met his wife, Maria Isabel Noguer贸n, an accomplished scientist and teacher from Mexico City.

Dr. Buchanan came to 蜜桃影像 in 1989. At 蜜桃影像, he enjoyed the energy and talent of both the undergraduate and graduate students. He worked with dozens of undergraduates to complete significant research in his lab as part of independent study projects, as summer research projects, as part of the McNair summer program, and as paid student workers.  Many of these students have gone on to successful careers in medicine and research. 

For Dr. Buchanan, one of the great appeals of working at 蜜桃影像 in the Department of Biological Sciences was the balance of research with teaching. He enjoyed teaching both lab and lecture courses, including physiology and neurobiology.  

Outside the lab and classroom, Dr. Buchanan enjoys a variety of locomotor pursuits including hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, and canoeing here in Wisconsin and back in Colorado.