You are here
Home ›Travis Hill
Zito Lab
PhD (Neuroscience) - Univeristy of California, Davis, CA (2013)
B.S. (Psychology) - University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (2007)
A.A. (Liberal Arts) - Holyoke Community College, Holyoke, MA (2005)
tchill@ucdavis.edu
Animals possess the remarkable ability to adapt their behavior to suit a wide range of circumstances. Learning and memory, mechanisms that allow acquisition and storage of information, are critically important for this behavioral adaptation. The nervous system makes this information storage possible by adjusting connections between individual neurons and thereby altering network connectivity. I want to understand the rules governing how neurons establish new connections with each other. I'm particularly interested in the role of synaptic activity as an instructive cue in the formation and stabilization of nascent synapses. Understanding the nature of the relationship between activity patterns and neural circuit formation is going to be critical if we hope to understand how the nervous system establishes connectivity during normal development. Ultimately, this work may illuminate new avenues for therapeutic intervention in disease states characterized by aberrant neural connectivity.
Selected Publications:
Peer-reviewed publications
Oh WC, Hill TC, Zito K (2013). Synapse-specific and size-dependent mechanisms of spine structural plasticity accompanying synaptic weakening. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 110(4):305-12.
Hill TC, Zito K (2013). LTP-induced long-term stabilization of individual nascent dendritic spines. The Journal of Neuroscience, 33(2):678-86.
Weimer RM, Hill TC, Hamilton AM, Zito K (2012). Imaging synaptic protein dynamics using photoactivatable green fluorescent protein. Cold Spring Harb Protoc, (7):771-7.
K Zito, V Scheuss, G Knott, T Hill, K Svoboda (2009). Rapid functional maturation of nascent dendritic spines. Neuron 61, 247 – 58.
Chapters
Weimer RM, Hill TC, Hamilton AM & Zito K (2011) Imaging Synaptic Protein Dynamics in the Cerebral Cortex invitro and in vivo. In Imaging in Developmental Biology, Wong R and Sharpe J (eds.), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, pp. 499 – 512.
Hill TC, Oh W, Zito K (2009) Optical Manipulation of Neural Activity: Recent Advances for Applications using Two-Photon Microscopy, In: Thompson S, Blanpied T, (ed), The Change We Need: New Frontiers in Live-Cell Imaging, Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, pp. 51 – 60.
Abstracts
I Kaur, SA McMahon, G Chenaux, CY Chen, XB Liu, T Hill, L Matt, J Hell, K Zito, E Diaz. SynDIG1 is required for excitatory synapse development and plasticity in vitro and in vivo. CSHL Francis Crick Symposium on Neuroscience: The Changing Brain, 2013.
TC Hill, JW Hell, K Zito. LTP-induced long-term stabilization of nascent dendritic spines. UC Davis Interdisciplinary Graduate and Professional Symposium, 2012.
WC Oh, TC Hill, K Zito. Mechanisms of activity-dependent spine shrinkage and retraction in hippocampal neurons. UC Davis Interdisciplinary Graduate and Professional Symposium, 2012.
WC Oh, TC Hill, K Zito. Mechanisms of activity-dependent spine shrinkage and retraction in hippocampal neurons. UC Davis BMCDB Graduate Group Annual Retreat, 2012.
TC Hill, JW Hell, K Zito. LTP-induced long-term stabilization of nascent dendritic spines. Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, 2011.
TC Hill, K Zito. Activity-dependent stabilization of new dendritic spines. Dendrites Gordon Research Conference (SRS/GRC), 2011.
TC Hill, SK Parrish, K Zito. Diffusional coupling between new spines and the dendritic shaft. Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, 2008.
KV Fite, S Baver, L Bengston, T Hill. Diurnal Variation of NPY-Immunoreactivity in the SCN and Dorsal Raphe. Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, 2007.
TC Hill, JG Stoffolano. Novel Antennal Innervation of the First Three Neuromeres of the Thoracicoabdominal Ganglion in Phormia regina. Junior Fellows Undergraduate Research Symposium, 2007.
TC Hill, SB Baver, CL Bengston, KV Fite. Photoreceptor Populations Following Light-Damage in the Mongolian Gerbil (Meriones Unguiculatus) Retina. Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference, 2007.
SB Baver, TC Hill, CL Bengston, KV Fite. Melanopsin-Immunoreactive Retinal Ganglion Cells in the Aging Mongolian Gerbil. ARVO Annual Meeting, 2006.
Other Affiliations:
Society for Neuroscience