John Bear Email & Phone Number

Throughout my academic career, I have sought to understand the fundamental principles that guide life, and to map these processes in mathematical terms. Neurophysiology and biomathematics are the two primary disciplines that fascinate me. Of particular interest to me is the combined use of statistical models with experimental techniques to characterize the means by which neural dynamics at the level of nucleic acids, proteins, and micro-currents affect circuit function in health and disease. As cell and circuit-level analysis has transitioned towards big-data processing, research in these fields now requires a firm grounding in computational methods. I am also interested in addressing this question from the opposite perspective, defining how cellular and organismal metabolism affect cellular activity at neuronal synapses. As an undergraduate, I have learned the fundamentals of life and physical sciences, and have worked to become familiar with the technology and research techniques to study them. I have quantified the interaction of radioactivity with biological material in a health physics laboratory, and at UConn have studied both differential expression of mRNA splice variants in pathology and the use of molecular biology to modulate inhibitory synapse potentials. I have experience quantifying decay rate and biological effects of radioactive isotopes in living tissue and inorganic compounds, while my forays into the construction of cortical synapses have helped me to become proficient in bioinformatics, cell culture and transfection, PCR and gel electrophoresis, protein and nucleic acid purification, and cell and tissue staining. These experiences have allowed me to better understand the team effort involved in designing and carrying out experiments and in writing scientific proposals and articles. My passion for learning with and from other people motivates me to give each project and partner my utmost effort.

Listed skills include Construction, Project Planning, Contract Management, Public Speaking, and 5 others.