Research interests

• Neuroscience
• Developmental biology
• Neuroethology
• Evolution

The central theme throughout my research career has been to investigate what aspects of neuronal circuits are important to process specific aspects of sensory information and to mediate specific behaviours. For that I combine comparative embryological, anatomical and physiological approaches within the theoretical framework of evolution. This allows me to answer the following questions:

1. What are the neuroanatomical modifications that accompany the acquisition of novel functions?
2. What are the physiological changes that accompany these modifications?
3. What changes in developmental programs allow these novelties to arise?

Ongoing Projects:

• Processing of auditory information in the brainstem
• Patterning of afferents in the developing rhombencephalon
• Evolution of vertebrate brains

Students:

• Felipe Medina
  

Postdoctoral Fellows:

• Priscilla Logerot (PhD)

Previous Lab Members

• Kate Lomas (MSc, with SBS)
• Jean-Sebastien Finger (MSc, with SBS)
• Jeremy Corfield (PhD, with SBS)
• Christine Charvet (Summer NSF Fellowship)
• Anna Gsell (Massey University)

Funding:

• Royal Society of New Zealand (Marsden Fund)
• Neurological Foundation
• University of Auckland

Selected Publications:

• Corfield, J., Kubke, M. F., Parsons, S., Wild, J. M., & Köppl, C. (2011). Evidence for an Auditory Fovea in the New Zealand Kiwi (Apteryx mantelli). (E. J. Warrant, Ed.)PLoS ONE, 6, e23771. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0023771
• Logerot, P., Krützfeldt, N. O. E., Wild, J. M., & Kubke, M. F. (2011). Subdivisions of the auditory midbrain (n. mesencephalicus lateralis, pars dorsalis) in zebra finches using calcium-binding protein immunocytochemistry. PloS One, 6(6), e20686. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020686
• Mietchen, D., Hagedorn, G., Förstner, K., Kubke, M. F., Koltzenburg, C., Hahnel, M., & Penev, L. (2011). Wikis in scholarly publishing. Information Services and Use, 31(1-2), 53-59. (also published in Nature Preceedings, http://hdl.handle.net/10101/npre.2011.5891.1.)
• Förstner, K., Hagedorn, G., Koltzenburg, C., Kubke, M. F., & Mietchen, D. (2011). Collaborative platforms for streamlining workflows in Open Science. Nature Precedings. doi:10.1038/npre.2011.6066.1
• Krützfeldt NOE, Logerot P, Kubke MF Wild JM (2010) Connections of the auditory brainstem in a songbird, Taeniopygia guttata. I. Projections of nucleus angularis and nucleus laminaris to the auditory torus. J Comp Neurol 518(11):2149-67.
• Krützfeldt NOE, Logerot P, Kubke MF, Wild JM (2010) Connections of the auditory brainstem in a songbird, Taeniopygia guttata.II. Projections of nucleus angularis and nucleus laminaris to the superior olive and lateral lemniscal nuclei. J Comp Neurol 518(11):2135-48.
• Wild JM, Krützfeldt NOE, Kubke MF. (2010) Connections of the auditory brainstem in a songbird, Taeniopygia guttata. III. Projections of the superior olive and lateral lemniscal nuclei. J Comp Neurol 518(11):2149-67.
• Wild, J. M., Krützfeldt, N. O. E., & Kubke, M. F. (2009). Afferents to the cochlear nuclei and nucleus laminaris from the ventral nucleus of the lateral lemniscus in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata). Hearing Research, 257(1-2), 1-7. doi:10.1016/j.heares.2009.07.007
• Kubke MF, Wild JM and Suthers RA(2009) Airway Receptors in Birds. In: Airway Chemoreceptos in the Vertebrates: Structure, Evolution and Function (G Zaccone, E Cutz, D Adriaensen, C Nurse and A Maucer, Eds) Science Publishers, Enfield, NH.
• Kubke MF and Wild JM (2009) Evolution of avian brains. Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Binder MD, Hirokawa N and Windhorst U (Eds.), Butler A (Section Ed.) Springer-Verlag GmbH Berlin Heidelberg pp. 1312-1318
• Wild JM, Kubke MF, Mooney, R. (2009) The avian nucleus retroambigualis: cell types and projections to other respiratory-vocal nuclei in the brain of the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) J Comp Neurol 512:768-783
• Wild JM, Kubke MF and Peña JL. (2008) A pathway for predation in the barn owl (Tyto alba): gracile nucleus to dorsal thalamus to ‘claw area’ of the rostral Wulst. J Comp Neurol 509:156-166
• Roberts TF, Klein ME, Kubke MF, Wild JM and Mooney R. (2008) Telencephalic neurons monosynaptically link brainstem and forebrain premotor networks necessary for song. J Neuroscience 28:3479-3489.
• Corfield JR, Wild JM, Cowan BR, Parsons S, Kubke MF (2008) MRI of post-mortem specimens of endangered species for comparative brain anatomy. Nature Protocols 3:597-605.
• Corfield JR, Wild JM, Parsons S, Hauber ME and Kubke, MF. (2008) Evolution of brain size in the Palaeognath lineage, with an emphasis on New Zealand ratites. Brain, Behav Evol 71:87-99
• Martin GR, Wilson KJ, Wild JM, Parsons S, Kubke MF and Corfield JR. (2007) Kiwi forego vision in the guidance of their nocturnal activities. PLoS ONE. 2007 Feb 7;2:e198.
• Roberts TF, Wild JM, Kubke MF and Mooney R (2007) Sexually dimorphic vocal motoneurons in the zebra finch display homogeneous intrinsic properties and synaptic inputs. J Comp Neurol 502(1):157-69.
• Kubke MF, Yazaku-Sugiyama Y, Mooney R, Wild JM. (2005) Physiology of neuronal subtypes in the respiratory-vocal integration nucleus retroambigualis in the male zebra finch J Neurophysiology, 94:2379-2390.
• Kubke MF and Carr CE (2005) Development of sound localizing circuits. In: Sound Localisation. Springer Handbook for Auditory Research, Popper, AN and Fay, RR (eds). Springer New York, pp:179-237
• Kubke MF, *Massoglia D, Carr CE (2004) Bigger brains or bigger nuclei? Regulating the size of auditory structures in birds. Brain Behav Evol 63(3): 169-180.
• Kubke MF, Massoglia DM, Carr CE. (2002) Developmental changes underlying the formation of the specialized time coding circuits in barn owls (Tyto alba). J Neurosci 22:7671-7679.
• Kubke MF, Carr CE (2000) Development of the auditory brainstem of birds: comparison between barn owls and chickens. Hear Res 147:1-20.