Annette Stowasser , PhD

Visual systems, Physiology, Neuroscience

Staatlich gepruefter Augenoptiker und Augenoptikermeister: Hoehere Fachschule fuer Augenoptik Koeln, Germany, 1993

B.S.: Xavier University Cincinnati, USA, 2007 (Biology)

PhD: University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, USA, 2013 (Biology)

My professional background lies in the field of vision and neuroscience. My career path in this field began in 1983, when I entered an apprenticeship as an optician in Germany. Since then, I worked as an optician, and later as an “Augenoptikermeister” (optician master, somewhat similar to an optometrist in the USA), in Germany until 2000. Eventually, I pursued an academic career, and since 2016, am now one of the two core educators of the Undergraduate Neuroscience Program.
 
My educational role is to teach fundamental neuroscience courses to undergraduates, including principles of neurobiology, cognitive neuroscience, and neurophysiology.  I teach an upper-level, intensive, neurophysiology laboratory course for neuroscience majors (NS4010), a second-year introductory course which focuses on the basic fundamental concepts of the brain - behavioral relationships (NS2002), and a first-year seminar (NS1055) which surveys key aspects of how our brain works and how this influences our daily life.
 
Besides teaching, I am involved in research projects of the Buschbeck laboratory, specifically relating to aspects of animal eyes. For example, in the past, Dr. Buschbeck and I developed an ophthalmoscope that allows visualization of photoreceptors, as well as measures the refractive state of small life animal eyes, such as those of insects and spiders (Stowasser et al. 2017). Since then, this instrument has been pivotal for several research projects in the past, such as a research project of the Morehouse laboratory (Goté et al. 2019) and Rathore et al. (2023), as well as for various ongoing research projects.
 

Grant: #IOS-1856241 Investigators:Buschbeck, Elke; Stowasser, Annette 08-01-2019 -07-31-2023 National Science Foundation Coordinated eye growth in sophisticated arthropod visual systems Role:Collaborator $499,999.00 Awarded Level:Federal

Peer Reviewed Publications

Rathore, S., Goté, J. T., Brafford, M., Morehouse, N. I., Buschbeck, E. K., & Stowasser, A. (2023). Nutrition-induced macular-degeneration-like photoreceptor damage in jumping spider eyes. Vision Research, 206, 108185.

Hatton, S. L., Rathore, S., Vilinsky, I., & Stowasser, A. (2023). Quantitative and Qualitative Representation of Introductory and Advanced EEG Concepts: An Exploration of Different EEG Setups. Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education, 21(2), A142.

Stowasser, A., Stahl, A., Benoit, J. B., Wagenaar, D. A. Stowasser, A., Stahl, A., Benoit, J. B., & Wagenaar, D. A. (2019). Electrophysiology and transcriptomics reveal two photoreceptor classes and complex visual integration in Hirudo verbana. Journal of Experimental Biology, 222(15).

Stowasser, A., Owens, M., & Buschbeck, E. K. (2017). Giving invertebrates an eye exam: an ophthalmoscope that utilizes the autofluorescence of photoreceptors. Journal of Experimental Biology, 220(22), 4095-4100.

Stecher N., Stowasser A., Stahl A., & Buschbeck E. K. (2016). Embryonic development of the larval eyes of the Sunburst Diving Beetle, Thermonectus marmoratus (Insecta: Dytiscidae): a morphological study. Evolution & development, 18(4), 216-228.

Nagarah, J. M., Stowasser, A., Parker, R., Asari, H. and Wagenaar D. A. (2015). Optically transparent multi–suction electrode arrays. Front. Neurosci. 9, art. no. 384. 

Stowasser, A., Mohr, S., Buschbeck, E., & Vilinsky, I. (2015). Electrophysiology Meets Ecology: Investigating How Vision is Tuned to the Life Style of an Animal using Electroretinography. Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education, 13(3), A234.

Stowasser, A., & Buschbeck, E. K. (2014). Multitasking in an eye: How the unusual organization of the principal larval eyes of Thermonectus marmoratus allows for far and near vision and might aid in depth perception. The Journal of Experimental Biology, jeb-098624.

Bland, K., Revetta, N. P., Stowasser, A., & Buschbeck, E. K. (2014). Unilateral range finding in diving beetle larvae. The Journal of experimental biology,217(3), 327-330.

Stowasser, A., & Buschbeck, E. K. (2012). Electrophysiological evidence for polarization sensitivity in the camera-type eyes of the aquatic predacious insect larva Thermonectus marmoratus. The Journal of experimental biology,215(20), 3577-3586.

Stowasser, A., Rapaport, A., Layne, J. E., Morgan, R. C., & Buschbeck, E. K. (2010). Biological bifocal lenses with image separation. Current Biology, 20(16), 1482-1486.

Brent, B., Stowasser, A. (2009) Impact of Lonicera maackii on Decomposition Rates of Native Leaf Litter in a Southwestern Ohio Woodland. The Ohio Journal of Science,109:43-47.

Review

Stowasser, A., & Buschbeck, E. K. (2014). How aquatic water-beetle larvae with small chambered eyes overcome challenges of hunting under water.Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 200(11), 911-922.

Poster Presentations

Stowasser, A., Wagenaar, D. A. (2014. ) Simultaneous voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) imaging of both sides of leech ganglia .Neuroscience, Washington. . Level:International

Stowasser, A., Buschbeck, E. K. (2012. ) What do sunburst diving beetle larvae see? The role of polarization sensitivity .International Congress of Neuroethology, College Park, MD. . Level:International

Valinsky, I., Stowasser, A., Buschbeck, E. K. (2012. ) Electroretinograms of ‘Wild’ Arthropod Eyes .Neuroscience, New Orleans, TX. . Level:International

Stowasser, A., Rapaport, A., Layne, J. E. Buschbeck, E. K. (2010. ) Two eyes in one: The bizarre optics of the principal eye two of the sunburst diving beetle larva .International Congress of Neuroethology, Salamanca, Spain. . Level:International

Maksimovic, S., Stowasser, A., Cook, T., Buschbeck, E. K. (2009. ) Two eyes in one: The bizarre organization of the principal eyes of the Sunburst diving beetle larva .Neuroscience, Chicago, IL. . Level:International