Andrew Hill

Assistant Professor, NJIT

Contact Info

Office: 314 Boyden Hall
Office Phone: 973-353-1344
Lab: 314 Boyden Hall
Lab Phone: 973-353-1343
E-mail: aavhill@andromeda.rutgers.edu

Personal/Lab Web Sites

http://

Educational Background

Research Interests

My lab studies the neural network located in the brainstem that generates rhythmic motor output that underlies respiration. Deficits of the network contribute to maladies such as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). In this particular disease infants do not show appropriate arousal and autoresusitation reflexes in response to high levels of CO2 and low levels of O2. Using mice as a model system we are studying how risk factors such as prenatal nicotine disrupt the normal development of the brainstem, leading to abnormal reflexive responses. By better understanding the process through which risk factors contribute to diseases such as SIDS, we hope to give health care providers valuable information that may be transmitted to the general public and aid in care giving.

In addition to understanding respiratory diseases, we are also interested in the basic mechanisms through which the brainstem respiratory network functions. This network shows remarkable plasticity. It is not a simple clock-like, hardwired rhythm generator. In response to changing behavioral states or environmental conditions, it is capable of changing its frequency and even producing different types of respiratory output (e.g., normal breaths, sighs, and gasps). The plasticity of this network depends on the ability of its fundamental elements (neurons and synapses) to respond appropriately to sensory input, descending information from the cortex, and to the extracellular milieu. For example, a reduction in O2 level leads to a rapid reconfiguration of the network which involves changes in the intrinsic neuronal properties and synaptic properties. The result of this reconfiguration is that the motor output switches from normal breaths to gasps — a behavior that helps an animal to survive a period of low oxygen. We use a variety of techniques and preparations to study the reconfiguration of the respiratory network to produce appropriate motor output. An ongoing theme is to understand the regulation of respiration in an integrated manner spanning different levels of analysis from cells to networks to behavior.

Selected Publications

• Hill AA, Edwards DH, Murphey RK. The effect of neuronal growth on synaptic integration. J Comput Neurosci. 1994 1(3): 239–254.
• Hill AA, Jin P. Regulation of synaptic depression rates in the cricket cercal sensory system. J Neurophysiol. 1998 79(3): 1277–1285.
• Hill AA, Lu J, Masino MA, Olsen OH, Calabrese RL. A model of a segmental oscillator in the leech heartbeat neuronal network. J Comput Neurosci. 2001 10(3): 281–302.
• Hill AA, Masino MA, Calabrese RL. Model of intersegmental coordination in the leech heartbeat neuronal network. J Neurophysiol. 2002 87(3): 1586–1602.
• Hill AA, Cattaert D. Recruitment in a heterogeneous population of motor neurons that innervates the depressor muscle of the crayfish walking leg muscle. J Exp Biology. 2008 211: 613–629.