Anna Ruth Chambers

Academic Interests
I am broadly interested in (1) how the cerebral cortex processes sensory information in order to drive behavior, and (2) how experience (through learning, injury or disease, for example) affects the structure and function of the cortex. In order to investigate these topics, I have employed a variety of techniques, including extracellular electrophysiology, multiphoton imaging, and animal behavior. As a postdoc in Koen Vervaeke's group, I am currently working towards an understanding of the microcircuit structure and function of the retrosplenial cortex, a brain region that is critical for spatial navigation and memory.
Education and Training
2016-present Postdoc, University of Oslo
2015-2016 Postdoc, Johannes Gutenberg University
2009-2015 Ph.D., Neurobiology, Harvard University
2005-2009 B.A., Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University
Awards
- Young Research Talents Grant (Research Council of Norway, 2019-2022)
- Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellowship (2017-2019)
- EMBO Long-term Fellowship (2015-2016)
- Focus Translational Neuroscience Postdoc Fellowship (JGU Mainz, 2015)
- Graduate Student Travel Award, Advances and Perspectives in Auditory Neurophysiology (2013)
- Becker Family Fund Scholar (Johns Hopkins Univ., 2009)
- Charles Carroll Fulton Memorial Scholar (Johns Hopkins Univ., 2007-2009)
Selected publications
Chambers, A.R., Pilati, N., Balaram, P., Large, C.H., Kaczmarek, L.K., Polley, D.B. (2017). Pharmacological modulation of Kv3.1 mitigates auditory midbrain temporal processing deficits following auditory nerve damage. Scientific Reports, 7(1):17496.
Chambers, A.R., Rumpel, S. (2017). A stable brain from unstable components: Emerging concepts and implications for neural computation. Neuroscience Forefront Review, Neuroscience, 357,172-184.
Chambers, A.R.*, Salazar, J.J.*, Polley, D.B. (2016). Persistent thalamic sound processing despite profound cochlear denervation. Front. Neural Circuits. 10:72. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2016.00072. *equal author contribution
Sloas, D.C., Zhuo, R., Xue, H., Chambers, A.R., Kolaczyk, E., Polley, D.B., Sen, K. (2016) Interactions across multiple stimulus dimensions in primary auditory cortex. eNeuro, Aug 2016, ENEURO.0124-16.2016.
Chambers, A.R., Resnik, J., Whitton, J.P., Yuan, Y., Edge, A.S., Liberman, M.C., Polley, D.B. (2016). Central gain restores auditory processing following near-complete cochlear denervation. Neuron, 89(4); 867-79.
Chambers, A.R., Hancock, K.E., Sen, K., Polley, D.B. (2014). Online stimulus optimization rapidly reveals multidimensional selectivity in auditory cortical neurons. J. Neurosci., 34, 8963-75.
Guo, W., Chambers, A.R., Darrow, K.N., Hancock, K.E., Shinn-Cunningham, B.G., Polley, D.B. (2012). Robustness of cortical topography across fields, laminae, anesthetic states, and neurophysiological signal types. J. Neurosci., 32, 9159-72.
Chambers, A.R., Hancock, K.E., Maison, S.F., Liberman, M.C., Polley, D.B. (2012). Sound-evoked olivocochlear activation in unanesthetized mice. J. Assoc. Res. Otolaryngol., 13, 209-17.