Email david.bilkey@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 479 7633
Professor David Bilkey's general research area is systems neuroscience, with a particular focus on the role of the temporal cortex regions of the brain in memory and learning processes. This work involves using a combination of electrophysiological and behavioral procedures to determine how these temporal area structures function and interact with regions such as the prefrontal cortex.
His research group investigates how the function of the hippocampus and related regions is altered in schizophrenia using an animal model of the disorder. His research has been funded by the Health Research Council and Marsden Fund. He is an author on over 120 articles published in high-impact international journals. He is a past recipient of an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship and has served on several major funding panels. He is the current chair of the Marsden Fund Council.
David received a PhD from the University of Otago in 1987. After working as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington in 1988 he returned to Otago as a lecturer, and served as the Head of Department from 2009 to 2013.
Teaching
- PSYC 111 Memory Learning
- PSYC 211 Brain and Cognition
- PSYC 429 Advanced Methods in Cognitive Neuroscience
Research interests
- Systems neuroscience
- The role of the temporal cortex regions of the brain in memory and learning processes
- How the function of the hippocampus is altered in schizophrenia