Overview
I am primarily interested in how marine invertebrates experience this world, with their weird and wonderful bodies, nervous systems and senses so different to our own. My PhD research examined how the compound eyes of fiddler crabs adapt to extreme changes in brightness, using electron microscopy, x-ray tomography, electrophysiology and behavioral analyses.
My current research, as a postdoc in the Jekely Lab, aims to deconstruct the neurobiology behind settlement decisions in coral larvae. I want to understand how the decentralised nervous system of this primitive animal uses a variety of sensory cues to drive sophisticated habitat searching and attachment behaviours. To achieve this, I aim to produce a connectome of the whole larval nervous system and analyse neural cell types using volume data generated by serial-section electron microscopy.
Qualifications
2016 – 2020 PhD Biological Sciences, University of Bristol
2007 – 2011 MSci Marine Biology, University of Southampton
Career
2020 – present Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Exeter
2015 – 2016 Team Leader, Environmental Scientifics Group
2012 – 2015 Environmental Consultant, Assurity Consulting
Research group links
Research
Research interests
In order to deconstruct the neurobiology behind settlement decision-making in coral larvae, my research combines behavioural analysis with serial section electron microscopy and neuroanatomy. Within an exciting HFSP project, I am working to produce high-resolution 3D image volumes to connectomes of the Acropora larval nervous system. Corals belong to one of the earliest animal groups and lack a brain, instead possessing a primitive de-centralised nerve net. Understanding how these early nervous systems work to drive sophisticated behaviours can reveal new insights into animal evolution.
Reef-building corals provide the foundation for some of the most beautiful and diverse ecosystems on the planet, but they are now vulnerable and pushed to their limits. Understanding coral recruitment, specifically how they use a large variety of sensory cues and searching behaviours to make crucial decisions on where to settle, can also help us to protect their future.
Publications
Key publications | Publications by category | Publications by year
Publications by category
Journal articles
Jasek S, Verasztó C, Brodrick E, Shahidi R, Kazimiers T, Kerbl A, Jékely G (In Press). Desmosomal connectomics of all somatic muscles in an annelid larva.
Abstract:
Desmosomal connectomics of all somatic muscles in an annelid larva
AbstractCells form networks in animal tissues through synaptic, chemical and adhesive links. Invertebrate muscle cells often connect to other cells through desmosomes, adhesive junctions anchored by intermediate filaments. To study desmosomal networks, we skeletonised 853 muscle cells and their desmosomal partners in volume electron microscopy data covering an entire larva of the annelidPlatynereis. Muscle cells adhere to each other, to epithelial, glial, ciliated, and bristle-producing cells and to the basal lamina, forming a desmosomal connectome of over 2,000 cells. The aciculae – chitin rods that form an endoskeleton in the segmental appendages – are highly connected hubs in this network. This agrees with the many degrees of freedom of their movement, as revealed by video microscopy. Mapping motoneuron synapses to the desmosomal connectome allowed us to infer the extent of tissue influenced by motoneurons. Our work shows how cellular-level maps of synaptic and adherent force networks can elucidate body mechanics.
Abstract.
Brodrick EA, How MJ, Hemmi JM (2022). Fiddler crab electroretinograms reveal vast circadian shifts in visual sensitivity and temporal summation in dim light.
Journal of Experimental Biology,
225(5).
Abstract:
Fiddler crab electroretinograms reveal vast circadian shifts in visual sensitivity and temporal summation in dim light
ABSTRACT
. Many animals with compound eyes undergo major optical changes to adjust visual sensitivity from day to night, often under control of a circadian clock. In fiddler crabs, this presents most conspicuously in the huge volume increase of photopigment-packed rhabdoms and the widening of crystalline cone apertures at night. These changes are hypothesised to adjust the light flux to the photoreceptors and to alter optical sensitivity as the eye moves between light- and dark-adapted states. Here, we compared optical sensitivity in fiddler crab (Gelasimus dampieri) eyes during daytime and night via three electroretinogram (ERG) experiments performed on light- and dark-adapted crabs. (1) Light intensity required to elicit a threshold ERG response varied over six orders of magnitude, allowing more sensitive vision for discriminating small contrasts in dim light after dusk. During daytime, the eyes remained relatively insensitive, which would allow effective vision on bright mudflats, even after prolonged dark adaptation. (2) Flicker fusion frequency (FFF) experiments indicated that temporal summation is employed in dim light to increase light-gathering integration times and enhance visual sensitivity during both night and day. (3) ERG responses to flickering lights during 60
min of dark adaptation increased at a faster rate and to a greater extent after sunset compared with daytime. However, even brief, dim and intermittent light exposure strongly disrupted dark-adaptation processes. Together, these findings demonstrate effective light adaptation to optimise vision over the large range of light intensities that these animals experience.
Abstract.
Brodrick E, Jékely G (2021). Flatworm behaviour: Pieces behaving like wholes.
Curr Biol,
31(22), R1472-R1474.
Abstract:
Flatworm behaviour: Pieces behaving like wholes.
Planarians can regenerate from severed body parts. A new study shows that very soon after amputation and before regeneration can happen each piece behaves as a whole organism with distinct responses between head, middle, and tail regions.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Brodrick EA, Roberts NW, Sumner‐Rooney L, Schlepütz CM, How MJ (2020). Light adaptation mechanisms in the eye of the fiddler crab. <i>Afruca tangeri</i>. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 529(3), 616-634.
Publications by year
In Press
Jasek S, Verasztó C, Brodrick E, Shahidi R, Kazimiers T, Kerbl A, Jékely G (In Press). Desmosomal connectomics of all somatic muscles in an annelid larva.
Abstract:
Desmosomal connectomics of all somatic muscles in an annelid larva
AbstractCells form networks in animal tissues through synaptic, chemical and adhesive links. Invertebrate muscle cells often connect to other cells through desmosomes, adhesive junctions anchored by intermediate filaments. To study desmosomal networks, we skeletonised 853 muscle cells and their desmosomal partners in volume electron microscopy data covering an entire larva of the annelidPlatynereis. Muscle cells adhere to each other, to epithelial, glial, ciliated, and bristle-producing cells and to the basal lamina, forming a desmosomal connectome of over 2,000 cells. The aciculae – chitin rods that form an endoskeleton in the segmental appendages – are highly connected hubs in this network. This agrees with the many degrees of freedom of their movement, as revealed by video microscopy. Mapping motoneuron synapses to the desmosomal connectome allowed us to infer the extent of tissue influenced by motoneurons. Our work shows how cellular-level maps of synaptic and adherent force networks can elucidate body mechanics.
Abstract.
2022
Brodrick EA, How MJ, Hemmi JM (2022). Fiddler crab electroretinograms reveal vast circadian shifts in visual sensitivity and temporal summation in dim light.
Journal of Experimental Biology,
225(5).
Abstract:
Fiddler crab electroretinograms reveal vast circadian shifts in visual sensitivity and temporal summation in dim light
ABSTRACT
. Many animals with compound eyes undergo major optical changes to adjust visual sensitivity from day to night, often under control of a circadian clock. In fiddler crabs, this presents most conspicuously in the huge volume increase of photopigment-packed rhabdoms and the widening of crystalline cone apertures at night. These changes are hypothesised to adjust the light flux to the photoreceptors and to alter optical sensitivity as the eye moves between light- and dark-adapted states. Here, we compared optical sensitivity in fiddler crab (Gelasimus dampieri) eyes during daytime and night via three electroretinogram (ERG) experiments performed on light- and dark-adapted crabs. (1) Light intensity required to elicit a threshold ERG response varied over six orders of magnitude, allowing more sensitive vision for discriminating small contrasts in dim light after dusk. During daytime, the eyes remained relatively insensitive, which would allow effective vision on bright mudflats, even after prolonged dark adaptation. (2) Flicker fusion frequency (FFF) experiments indicated that temporal summation is employed in dim light to increase light-gathering integration times and enhance visual sensitivity during both night and day. (3) ERG responses to flickering lights during 60
min of dark adaptation increased at a faster rate and to a greater extent after sunset compared with daytime. However, even brief, dim and intermittent light exposure strongly disrupted dark-adaptation processes. Together, these findings demonstrate effective light adaptation to optimise vision over the large range of light intensities that these animals experience.
Abstract.
2021
Brodrick E, Jékely G (2021). Flatworm behaviour: Pieces behaving like wholes.
Curr Biol,
31(22), R1472-R1474.
Abstract:
Flatworm behaviour: Pieces behaving like wholes.
Planarians can regenerate from severed body parts. A new study shows that very soon after amputation and before regeneration can happen each piece behaves as a whole organism with distinct responses between head, middle, and tail regions.
Abstract.
Author URL.
2020
Brodrick EA, Roberts NW, Sumner‐Rooney L, Schlepütz CM, How MJ (2020). Light adaptation mechanisms in the eye of the fiddler crab. <i>Afruca tangeri</i>. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 529(3), 616-634.
Emelie_Brodrick Details from cache as at 2023-03-31 02:47:03
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