Educational History
Duke University, postdoctoral fellow,
1992-1999
Washington University, Ph.D. (neural biology),
1992
Oral Roberts University, M.B.S., 1987
Oral Roberts
University, B.S. 1985
Professional Membership
Society for Neuroscience, 1987-present
American
Association for the Advancement of Science, 1994-present
Teaching
Responsibilities
Neuroscience (PT 311); Neurological Practice Management I
(PT 404); Neurological Practice Management II (PT 412); Basic
Neurobiology (NBI 202)
Research
Interests
Functional architecture of the cerebral cortex
Role
of sensory experience in brain development
Effects of aging
and disease on white matter pathways in the human brain
One important goal of neuroscience is to understand the
fundamental principles that shape the developing brain. To
achieve this goal, it is necessary to characterize the
influence of sensory experience on genetically programmed
mechanisms of neural development. This interplay between
intrinsic and experience-dependent factors is most dynamic
during early postnatal life, at a time of explosive increase
in the numbers and complexity of neural connections. It is
precisely this increase in neural capacity that makes possible
the rich repertoire of behavior associated with functional
maturity. My work seeks to characterize the contributions of
both intrinsic mechanisms of development and sensory
experience to the formation of the visual areas in the
cerebral cortex. The overall goals are to identify the neural
processes by which these two sets of factors shape normal
development and to determine the timing of their influence on
the developing brain. These studies are providing insight into
the nature of intrinsic and experience-dependent factors in
normal development and the consequences of disrupting this
partnership for the construction of competent neural systems.
Other studies are directed toward understanding the functional
architecture of neural circuits in the mature visual system.
All of this work combines neuroanatomical,
electrophysiological and optical imaging methods to probe the
relation between structure and function in the visual cortex
and thalamocortical circuits.
In a different line of research, I am collaborating with
colleagues in Radiology and the Aging Center to investigate
the changes in cerebral white matter that characterize normal
aging and a variety of neurological disorders, such as stroke
and multiple sclerosis.
Selected
Publications
Basole A, White LE, Fitzpatrick D (2003) Mapping multiple
stimulus features in the popultaion response of visual
cortical neurons. Nature (in press).
White LE, Coppola DM, Fitzpatrick D (2001) The contribution
of sensory experience to the maturation of orientation
selectivity in ferret visual cortex. Nature
411:1049-1052.
White LE, Bosking WH, Fitzpatrick D (2001) Consistent
mapping of orientation preference across irregular functional
domains in ferret visual cortex. Visual Neuroscience
18:1-12.
White LE, Bosking WH, Williams SM, Fitzpatrick D (1999)
Maps of central visual space in ferret V1 and V2 lack matching
inputs from the two eyes. Journal of Neuroscience
19:7089-7099.
Coppola DM, White LE, Fitzpatrick D, Purves D (1998)
Unequal representation of cardinal and oblique contours in
ferret visual cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy
of Science, USA 95:2621-2623.
White LE, Andrews TJ, Hulette C, Richards A, Groelle M,
Paydarfar J, Purves D (1997a) Structure of the human
sensorimotor system I. Morphology and cytoarchitecture of the
central sulcus. Cerebral Cortex 7:18-30.
White LE, Andrews TJ, Hulette C, Richards A, Groelle M,
Paydarfar J, Purves D (1997b) Structure of the Human
Sensorimotor System II. Lateral symmetry. Cerebral
Cortex 7:31-47.
Purves D, White LE (1994) Monocular preferences in
binocular viewing. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Science, USA 91:8339-8342.
White LE, Price JL (1994) The functional anatomy of limbic
status epilepticus. I. Patterns of [14C]2-deoxyglucose uptake
and Fos immunocytochemistry. Journal of Neuroscience
13:4787-4809.
SylviusPro: Atlas of the Human Central Nervous
System, by S. Mark Williams, Leonard E. White and Andrew
C. Mace. Durham NC: Pyramis Studios, Inc. and Sunderland MA:
Sinauer Associates, Inc. (2003) [an e-Book currently available
in beta format].
White LE (2000) Emotion, Chapter 29. In (Purves D,
Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, Katz LC, LaMantia A, McNamara JO,
eds): Neuroscience, 2nd Ed. Sunderland MA: Sinauer
Associates, Inc., pp. 625-644.
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