
Professor Marcello Rosa - Department of Physiology
BSc, MSc, PhD (Rio de Janeiro)
Return to Academic Staff Index
Address
Department of Physiology Monash University VIC 3800 Australia
Located
Room F116, Building 13F (Physiology) at Clayton Campus
Tel: +61 3 990 52522
Fax: +61 3 990 52547
Email: Marcello.Rosa@monash.edu
Research Interests
Our laboratory investigates the organisation of the cerebral cortex in mammals, with special emphasis on the visual system. There are many visual areas in the brain, but it is still unclear how neurones in these areas interact in order to create an internal representation of the "outside world". One of the primary objectives of this research is to identify the functions of neurones in the different areas of the visual cortex, and how their electrical activity generates our perception. In recent years this line of investigation has expanded to include work on interactions between visual and auditory sensory processing, and on the use of visual information for controlling movement. Finally, we are also studying the gradual maturation of the visual system, from birth to adult life.
Honours and Awards
A.W. Campbell award, for the best research by a member of the Australian Neuroscience Society (ANS) during the first five postdoctoral years (1996).
Paxinos-Watson prize, for the most significant refereed paper in the neurosciences by a member of the ANS published in the previous year (1999 and 2002).
Monash University Faculty of Medicine Research Award (2004).
Fellow of the University of Bologna Institute of Advanced Studies.
ARC College of Experts, Biological sciences and Biotechnology panel member.
NHMRC Grant Review panel member.
International reviewer- Wellcome Trust (major infrastructure grants, equipment grants, project grants and Fellowships), UK BBSRC, Katholieke Universitet Leuven, Argentinian Research Council (FONCYT), U.S. National Science foundation and New Zealand Health Research Council.
Board of Reviewing Editors member: Brain Research and Frontiers in Neuroanatomy.
Editorial Board member: Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology.
Invited paper: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society centenary of modern brain mapping (2005) special issue.
Invited author: Trends in Neurosciences, European Journal of Neuroscience, Molecular Neurobiology.
Invited author:
"Cerebral Cortex" book series (Academic Press, A. Peters and E.G. Jones, eds., 1997)
“Encyclopedia of the Human Brain” (Academic Press; V.S. Ramachandran, ed., 2002).
“The Primate Visual System” (CRC Press, J.H. Kaas and C.E. Collins, eds., 2004).
Invited speaker at international symposia, including (among others) the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Symposium “Cortical Maps” (2001), the UNESCO Chair on Developmental Biology (Rio de Janeiro, 2001) the Joint China/ USA Neuroscience Symposium (Shanghai, 2005), and two Symposia of the 2007 International Brain Research Organization Congress.
Laboratory Personnel
Dr Kathleen Burman(NHMRC-funded postdoctoral Fellow): Neuroanatomy, especially pathways for visual-motor interactions
Dr. David Reser (NHMRC-funded postdoctoral Fellow): Anatomy and Physiology of visual-auditory interactions; effects of botulinum toxin on the central nervous system; neurophysiology of the honeybee visual system.
Dr. Hsin-Hao Yu (ARC-funded postdoctoral Fellow): Functional analysis of cortical areas, with emphasis on modeling the effects of feedback connections on cellular responses.
Dr. Richa Verma (NHMRC-funded postdoctoral Fellow): Anatomical connections of visual areas in development and adulthood.
Dr. Leo Lui (NHMRC training Fellow): Neural correlates of visual perception and memory; currently working at the University of Rochester
Katrina Worthy (NHMRC-funded Research Assistant).
Karyn Richardson (ARC-funded technician)
I am currently looking for students with backgrounds in mathematical modeling and information technology, who are seeking training in neuroscience. I am interested in implementing and testing experimentally models of brain development, and of interactions between brain areas in visual processing. Send me an email if you would like to know more about these projects.
Publications (2002-2011)
Burman KJ, Reser DH, Richardson KE, Gaulke H, Worthy KH, Rosa MG, 2011, Subcortical projections to the frontal pole in the marmoset monkey. Eur J Neurosci doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2011.07744.x.
Passarelli L, Rosa MG, Gamberini M, Bakola S, Burman KJ, Fattori P, Galletti C, 2011, Cortical connections of area V6Av in the macaque: a visual-input node to the eye/hand coordination system. J Neurosci 31(5):1790-801.
Yu HH, Rosa MG, 2010, A simple method for creating wide-field visual stimulus for electrophysiology: mapping and analyzing receptive fields using a hemispheric display. J Vis 10(14):15.
Burman KJ, Reser DH, Yu HH, Rosa MG, 2010, Cortical Input to the Frontal Pole of the Marmoset Monkey. Cereb Cortex. 2010 Dec 7. [Epub ahead of print]
Norgate M, Boyd-Gerny S, Simonov V, Rosa MG, Heard TA, Dyer AG, 2010, Ambient temperature influences Australian native stingless bee (Trigona carbonaria) preference for warm nectar. PLoS One. 2010 Aug 9;5(8):e12000.
Cloherty SL, Mustari MJ, Rosa MG, Ibbotson MR, 2010, Effects of saccades on visual processing in primate MSTd. Vision Res 50(24):2683-91
Yu HH, Verma R, Yang Y, Tibballs HA, Lui LL, Reser DH, Rosa MG, 2010, Spatial and temporal frequency tuning in striate cortex: functional uniformity and specializations related to receptive field eccentricity. Eur J Neurosci 31(6):1043-62.
Reser DH, Burman KJ, Richardson KE, Spitzer MW, Rosa MG, 2009, Connections of the marmoset rostrotemporal auditory area: express pathways for analysis of affective content in hearing. Eur J Neurosci 30(4):578-92.
Rosa MG, Palmer SM, Gamberini M, Burman KJ, Yu HH, Reser DH, Bourne JA, Tweedale R, Galletti C, 2009, Connections of the dorsomedial visual area: pathways for early integration of dorsal and ventral streams in extrastriate cortex. J Neurosci 29(14):4548-63.
Burman KJ, Rosa MG, 2009, Architectural subdivisions of medial and orbital frontal cortices in the marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus). J Comp Neurol 514(1):11-29.
Dyer AD, Rosa MGP, Reser DH, 2008, Honeybees can recognise images of complex natural scenes for use as potential landmarks. J Exp Biol 211: 1180-1186.
Burman KJ, Palmer SM, Gamberini M, Spitzer MW, Rosa MGP, 2008, Anatomical and physiological definition of the motor cortex of the marmoset monkey. J Comp Neurol 506: 860-876.
Padberg J, Franca JG, Cooke DF, Soares JG, Rosa MGP, Fiorani M Jr, Gattass R, Krubitzer L, 2007, Parallel evolution of cortical areas involved in skilled hand use. J Neurosci 27: 10106-10115.
Lui LL, Bourne JA, Rosa MGP, 2007, Spatial and temporal frequency selectivity of neurones in the middle temporal visual area of New World monkeys (Callithrix jacchus). Eur J Neurosci 25: 1780-1792.
Burman KJ, Lui LL, Rosa MGP, Bourne JA, 2007, Development of non-phosphorylated neurofilament expression in neurones of the New World monkey dorsolateral frontal cortex. Eur J Neurosci 25: 1767-1779.
Lui LL, Bourne JA, Rosa MGP, 2007, Spatial summation, end inhibition and side inhibition in the middle temporal visual area (MT). J Neurophysiol 97: 1135-1148.
Bourne JA, Warner CE, Upton DJ, Rosa MGP, 2007, Chemoarchitecture of the middle temporal visual area in the marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus): Laminar distribution of calcium-binding proteins (calbindin, parvalbumin) and nonphosphorylated neurofilament. J Comp Neurol 500: 832-849.
Palmer SM, Rosa MGP, 2006, A distinct anatomical network of cortical areas for analysis of motion in far peripheral vision. Eur J Neurosci 24: 2389-2405.
Elston GN, Rosa MGP, 2006, Ipsilateral corticocortical projections to the primary and middle temporal visual areas of the primate cerebral cortex: area-specific variations in the morphology of connectionally identified pyramidal cells. Eur J Neurosci 23: 3337-3345.
Palmer SM, Rosa MGP, 2006, Quantitative analysis of the corticocortical projections to the middle temporal area in the marmoset monkey: evolutionary and functional implications. Cereb Cortex 16: 1361-1375.
Burman KJ, Palmer SM, Gamberini M, Rosa MGP, 2006, Cytoarchitectonic subdivisions of the dorsolateral frontal cortex of the marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus), and their projections to dorsal visual areas. J Comp Neurol 495: 149-172.
Bourne JA, Rosa MGP, 2006, Hierarchical development of the primate visual cortex, as revealed by neurofilament immunoreactivity: early maturation of the middle temporal area (MT). Cereb Cortex 16: 405-414.
Lui L, Bourne JA, Rosa MGP, 2006, Functional response properties of neurons in the dorsomedial visual area of New World monkeys (Callithrix jacchus). Cereb Cortex 16: 162-177.
Rosa MGP, Manger PR, 2005, Clarifying homologies in the mammalian cerebral cortex: The case of the third visual area (V3). Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol 32: 327-339.
Rosa MGP, Tweedale R, 2005, Brain maps, great and small: lessons from comparative studies of primate visual cortical organization. Phil Trans R Soc Lond B 360: 665-691.
Lui LL, Bourne JA, Rosa MGP, 2005, Single-unit responses to kinetic stimuli in New World monkey area V2: Physiological characteristics of cue-invariant neurones. Exp Brain Res 162: 100-108.
Bourne JA, Warner CE, Rosa MGP, 2005, Topographic and laminar maturation of striate cortex in early postnatal marmoset monkeys, as revealed by neurofilament immunohistochemistry. Cereb Cortex 15: 740-748.
Rosa MGP, Palmer SM, Gamberini M, Tweedale R, Piñon MC, Bourne JA, 2005, Resolving the organization of the New World monkey third visual complex: The dorsal extrastriate cortex of the marmoset (Callithrix jacchus). J Comp Neurol 483: 164-191.
Manger PR, Rosa MGP, 2005, Visual thalamocortical projections in the flying fox: Parallel pathways to striate and extrastriate areas. Neuroscience 130: 497-511.
Bourne JA, Lui L, Tweedale R, Rosa MGP, 2004, First- and second-order stimulus length selectivity in New World monkey striate cortex. Eur J Neurosci 19: 169-180.
Bourne JA, Rosa MGP, 2003, Preparation for the in vivo recording of neuronal responses in the visual cortex of anaesthetised marmosets (Callithrix jacchus). Brain Res Brain Res Protoc 11: 168-177.
Bourne JA, Rosa MGP, 2003, Neurofilament protein expression in the geniculostriate pathway of a New World monkey (Callithrix jacchus), Exp Brain Res 150:19-24.
Bourne JA, Rosa MGP, 2003, Laminar expression of neurofilament protein in the superior colliculus of the marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus). Brain Res 973: 142-145.
Bourne JA, Tweedale R, Rosa MGP, 2002, Physiological responses of New World monkey V1 neurons to stimuli defined by coherent motion. Cereb Cortex 12: 1132-1145.
Rosa MGP, 2002, Visual maps in the adult primate cerebral cortex: some implications for brain development and evolution. Braz J Med Biol Res 35: 1485-1498.
Book chapters:
Rosa MGP, Tweedale R, 2004, Maps of the visual field in the cerebral cortex of primates: Functional organization and significance. In: The Primate Visual System (Kaas JH, Collins CE, eds). CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 261-288.
Rosa MGP, 2002, Visual cortex. In: Encyclopedia of the Human Brain, vol. 4 (Ramachandran VS, ed). Academic, New York, pp 753-773.
