Heywood M Petry, PhD
Professor
Office: Room 322B, Life Science Building
Phone: (502) 852-6031
Fax: (502) 852-8904
Email: woody.petry@louisville.edu
Lab location: Life Sciences Building
Lab phone: 852-7644
Lab website: Visual Neuroscience Lab
Education
B.A. (1974) Bates College, Lewiston ME
M.A. (1976) Connecticut College, New London CT
Ph.D. (1980) Brown University, Providence RI
Post-Doctoral (1980-1982) Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN
Courses often taught
Undergraduate:
PSYC 344 “Physiological Psychology”;
PSYC 404 “Sleep, Dreaming and Biological Rhythms”
Graduate:
PSYC 632 “Principles of Visual Science”
PSYC 642 “Behavioral Neuroscience”
Research Interests
Two common themes of my research have been: 1) basic brain mechanisms of vision, and 2) the influence of the post-natal environment on the development and plasticity of these mechanisms. My approach has been to use a wide variety of complementary research methodologies to address specific research questions at neural levels ranging from molecular and cellular to neural systems and behavior. Over recent years we have employed immunocytochemistry, single-cell electrophysiology, evoked potentials (ERG, VEP), neuroanatomical tract-tracing, molecular biology and visual psychophysics techniques. The variety of research methods in my lab allows undergraduates and graduate students to acquire first-hand exposure and technical skills in several areas of basic neuroscience and bio-medical research. Current projects include 1) the neural coding of visual movement and attention and 2) neuroplasticity genes in visual cortex. More information on these projects is available on my laboratory website. The selected publications listed below were chosen to highlight recent projects, as well as to provide a sampling of the breadth of research problems addressed and methodologies used throughout my career to date.
Selected Publications
Chomsung* RD, Petry HM and Bickford ME. (2008) Ultrastructural examination of diffuse and specific tectopulvinar projections in the tree shrew. Journal of Comparative Neurology, in press.
Petry, HM. (2008) The Grawemeyer Awards in Psychology. In The Power of Ideas: Volume II, AE Dittmer, SR Garrett, RA Payne, M Satterwhite and HM Petry. Louisville KY: Butler Books, pp 210-251.
Radtke ND, Aramant RB, Petry HM, Greene PT, Pidwell DJ, Seiler M. (2008) Vision improvement in retinal degeneration patients by implantation of retina together with retinal pigment epithelium. American Journal of Ophthalmology, in press.
Lu*, H. and Petry, H.M. (2003) Temporal modulation sensitivity of tree shrew retinal ganglion cells. Visual Neuroscience, 20(4), 363-372.
Callahan*, T.L. and Petry, H.M. (2000) Psychophysical measurement of temporal modulation sensitivity in the tree shrew. Vision Research, 40, 455-458.
Ball*, S.L. and Petry, H.M. (2000) Non-invasive measurement of retinal function in rats using multifocal electroretinography. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 41, 610-617.
Cao*, Q.-L., Murphy*, H.A. and Petry, H.M. (1999) Localization of nitric oxide synthase in the tree shrew retina. Visual Neuroscience, 16, 399-409.
Petry, H.M. and Murphy*, H.A. (1995) Differentiation of short-wavelength-sensitive cones by NADPH-diaphorase histochemistry. Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 92, 5121-5123.
Petry, H.M. (1993) Long-term changes in visual mechanisms following differential stimulation of color and luminance channels during development. Progress in Brain Research, 95, 235-250.
Petry, H.M. (1993) Magno and parvo visual channels and the subjective Necker cube. Vision Research, 33, 845-847.
Agarwala*, S., Günlük*, A.E., May, J.G., and Petry, H.M. (1992) Immunohistochemical organization of the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus in the tree shrew. The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 318, 267-276.
Petry, H.M. and
Kelly*, J.P. (1991) Psychophysical measurement of spectral
sensitivity and color vision in red-light-reared tree shrews (Tupaia belangeri). Vision Research, 31, 1749-1757.
Petry, H.M. and Hárosi, F.I. (1990) The visual pigments of tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri) and galago (Galago crassicaudatus): a microspectrophotometric investigation. Vision Research, 30, 839-851.
Norton, T.T., Irvin*, G.E., Casagrande, V.A., Sesma*, M.A., and Petry, H.M. (1988) Contrast sensitivity functions of W-, X- and Y-like relay cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the bush baby (Galago crassicaudatus). Journal of Neurophysiology, 59, 1639-1656.
Petry, H.M.,
Donovan*, W.J., Moore*,
R.K., Dixon*, W.B., and Riggs, L.A. (1982)
Changes in the human visually evoked potential in response to chromatic
modulation of a sinusoidal grating. Vision
Research, 22, 745-755.
Bradley, D.R., and Petry, H.M. (1977) Organizational determinants of subjective contour: the subjective Necker cube. American Journal of Psychology, 90, 253-262.
