Michael J. Pesavento

Contact

• Email: michael_pesavento @ urmc.rochester.edu
• Advisor: David J. Pinto, Ph.D.
• Lab Website: N/A
• Department(s):
  • Neurobiology & Anatomy
  • Biomedical Engineering
• Phone: (585) 273-3533
• Address:

  University of Rochester Medical Center
  Box 603
  601 Elmwood Ave.
  Rochester, NY 14642

Area of Interest / Current Research

My interests are focused on how cortical circuits are able to perform transformations of input signals. I use whole cell recordings and dynamic patch clamp in the barrel cortex, along with computational models of the system to understand how a sensory input signal changes upon entering the cortical circuit.

Education

• 2004-current : Ph.D. student, Neuroscience, University of Rochester
• 2005-2006 : M.S. in Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester
• 1999-2004 : B.S. in Cognitive Science, UCLA. Neuroscience minor, computing specialization

Publications

• Kevin A. Davis, O. Lomakin, Michael J. Pesavento, (2007) Response properties of single units in the dorsal nucleus of the lateral lemniscus of decerebrate cats, J Neurophysiol. 98(3):1475-1488
• Michael J. Pesavento & John Schlag, (2006) Transfer of Learned Perception of Sensorimotor Simultaneity, Exp. Brain Res. 174(3):435-442

Abstracts

• Michael J. Pesavento, David J Pinto, (2006) Induced changes in intrinsic properties alter response sensitivity to timing in barrel neurons, abstract 145.7, Society for Neuroscience Abstr.
• Michael J. Pesavento, David J Pinto, (2006) Variations in response sensitivity and intrinsic properties of cortical neurons, abstract 144, Computational and Systems Neuroscience
• Michael J. Pesavento, Oleg Lomakin, & Kevin A. Davis, (2006) Response properties of single units in the dorsal nucleus of the lateral lemniscus of decerebrate cats, abstract D8, Association for Research in Otolaryngology
• Daniel Zaksas, Nicholas P LaMendola, Michael J. Pesavento, & Tania Pasternak, (2005) Neural correlates of working memory for visual motion in prefrontal cortex, abstract 16.5, Society for Neuroscience Abstr.
• Michael J. Pesavento & John Schlag, (2004) Perception of Sensorimotor Simultaneity is Learned, abstract B3, Vision Sciences Society
• Michael J. Pesavento & John Schlag, (2004)Transfer of Learned Perception of Sensorimotor Simultaneity, abstract 649.12, Society for Neuroscience Abstr.

Rotations

These are some labs I have rotated through during my first year:

• David Pinto, Ph.D. Fall 2004
  Detection of rapid changes in sensory stimuli, looking at rat barrel cortex circuitry. Used dynamic clamp and simulated barrel-circuit neurons with conductance-based models.
• Tania Pasternak, Ph.D. Spring 2005
  Working memory in visual motion. Recorded from PFC neurons and analysed their response to random dot motion in a delayed match to sample task.
• Kevin Davis, Ph.D. Summer 2005
  Analysis of response properties of DNLL cells in decerebrate cats. We used single- and multi-unit recordings of the dorsal nucleus of the lateral lemniscus, a major inhibitory input into the inferior colliculus.

Honors & Awards

• NIH T32 Interdepartmental Neuroscience Training Grant
• National Eagle Scout Association, member since 1995

Other Interests

• Hiking
• Camping
• Sailing
• Kayaking
• Tennis
• Golf
• Skiing

Websites

http://www.pezco.net - My personal site