Assistant Professor

Education and Training

B.A. Providence College
Biopsychology             

M.S. University of Rochester Medical School 
Neuroscience        

Ph.D. University of Rochester Medical School
Neuroscience          

Postdoctoral Training, Harvard Medical School
Neurogenetics/Neurodevelopment

Contact

Office: Science Center Rm. 1W14

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 8th Street
Troy, NY 12180

Research Interests

Basic mechanisms of neurodevelopment and neurological diseases.

The primary focus of our laboratory is to understand how the brain develops and how when these processes are disrupted they result in neurodevelopmental and neurological disorders.  The primary focus of the laboratory is understanding the basic function of one of the genes, AHI1, that causes a neurodevelopmental disorder called Joubert syndrome.  The laboratory group also is interested in defining the genetic, anatomic and cell biological processes that are disrupted in epilepsy.  Lastly, the laboratory is interested in gaining a better understanding of the process of brain plasticity, particularly in the genes that are involved in learning and memory and defining the anatomical/molecular mechanisms behind this plasticity. 

Selected Publications

Drugan RC, Basile AS, Ha JH, Ferland RJ.   The protective effects of stress control may be mediated by increased brain levels of benzodiazepine receptor agonists.  Brain Res.  661: 127-136, 1994.

Drugan RC, Holmes PV, Luczak S, Oh H, Ferland RJ.   Environmentally induced changes in peripheral benzodiazepine receptors are stressor and tissue specific.  Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav.  50 (4): 551-562, 1995.

Ha JH, Pannell L, Drugan RC, Ferland R, Basile AS.   Extraction of benzodiazepine receptor ligands from mammalian tissues.  Neuroscience Protocols 60 (2): 1-12, 1996.

Drugan RC, Basile AS, Ha JH, Healy D, Ferland RJ.   Analysis of the importance of controllable versus uncontrollable stress on subsequent behavioral and physiological functioning.  Brain Res. Protocols  2:69-74, 1997.

Ferland RJ and Applegate CD.   Decreased brainstem seizure thresholds and facilitated seizure propagation in mice exposed to repeated flurothyl-induced generalized forebrain seizures.  Epilepsy Res.  30 (1): 49-62, 1998.

Ferland RJ, Nierenberg J, and Applegate CD.   A role for the bilateral involvement of perirhinal cortex in generalized kindled seizure expression.  Exp. Neurol.  151 (1): 124-137, 1998.

Ferland RJ and Applegate CD.   The role of the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus in epileptogenesis.  Neuroreport  9 (16): 3623-3629, 1998.

Ferland RJ and Applegate CD.   Bidirectional transfer between electrical and flurothyl kindling in mice: evidence for common processes in epileptogenesis.  Epilepsia  40 (2): 144-152, 1999.

Ferland RJ, Gross RA, and Applegate CD.  Differences in hippocampal mitotic activity within the dorsal and ventral hippocampus following flurothyl seizures in mice.  Neuroscience Ltrs., 332 (2): 131-135, 2002.

Ferland RJ, Gross RA, and Applegate CD.  Increased mitotic activity in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus of adult C57BL/6J mice exposed to the flurothyl kindling model of epileptogenesis. Neuroscience, 115 (3): 669-683, 2002.

Ferland RJ, Williams JP, Gross RA, and Applegate CD.  The effects of brain-irradiation-induced decreases in hippocampal mitotic activity on flurothyl-induced epileptogenesis in adult C57BL/6J mice.  Exp. Neurol., 179 (1): 71-82, 2003.

Ferland RJ, Cherry, TJ, Preware, PO, Morrisey EE, and Walsh CA.  Characterization of Foxp2 and Foxp1 mRNA and protein in the developing and mature brain. J. Comp. Neurol., 460:266-279, 2003.

Ferland RJ, Eyaid W, Collura RV, Tully LD, Hill RS, Al-Nouri D, Al-Rumayyan A, Topcu M, Gascon G, Bodell A, Shugart YY, Ruvolo M, and Walsh CA.  Abnormal cerebellar development and axonal decussation due to mutations in AHI1 in Joubert Syndrome.  Nature Genet., 36:1008-1013, 2004.

Ferland RJ, Li X, Buhlmann JE, Bu X, Walsh CA, Lim B.  Characterization of Rho-GDIγ and Rho-GDIα mRNA in the developing and mature brain with an analysis of mice with targeted deletions of Rho-GDIγ.  Brain Res., 1054:9-21, 2005.

Basel-Vanagaite L, Attia R, Yahav M, Ferland RJ, Anteki L, Walsh CA, Olender T, Straussberg R, Magal N, Taub E, Drasinover V, Alkelai A, Bercovich D, Rechavi G, Simon AJ, Shohat M.  The CC2D1A, a member of a new gene family with C2 domains, is involved in autosomal recessive nonsyndromic mental retardation.  J. Med. Genet., 43(3):203-210, 2006.

Sheen VL, Ferland RJ, Neal J, Harney M, Hill RS, Banham A, Brown P, Chenn A, Corbo J, Hecht J, Folkerth R, and Walsh CA.  Neocortical neuronal arrangement in Miller Dieker syndrome.  Acta Neuropathologica, 111(5):489-496, 2006.

Sheen VL, Ferland RJ, Harney M, Hill RS, Banham A, Brown P, Chenn A, Corbo J, Hecht J, Folkerth R, and Walsh CA.  Impaired proliferation and migration in human Miller-Dieker neural precursors.  Ann. Neurol., 60(1):137-144, 2006.

Ferland RJ, Gaitanis JN, Apse K, Tantravahi U, Walsh CA, Sheen VL.  Periventricular nodular heterotopia and Williams syndrome.  Am. J. Med. Genet. 140(12):1305-1311, 2006.

Fuli Y, Hill RS, Schaffner SF, Sabeti PC, Wang ET, Mignault AA, Ferland RJ, Moyzis RK, Walsh CA, Reich D.  Comment on “Ongoing adaptive evolution of ASPM, a brain size determinant in Homo sapiens.” Science  316(5823):370-373, 2007.

Ferland RJ, Walsh CA. The genetics of Joubert syndrome: Insights into the development of the posterior midline of the brain.  Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, 2007, in press.