Hughes Mentor:  Andrew Bass

Department: Neurobiology and Behavior

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Meet a Cornell Researcher! – Dr. Andrew H. Bass

Dr. Andrew Bass is interested in the physiological and anatomical mechanisms underlying the acoustic mechanisms in vertebrates. He works with midshipman fish specifically because of their relative simplicity. These fish are model systems for biomedical and behavioral studies. Dr. Bass attended Case Western Reserve University for undergraduate school, and the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor for graduate. He decided to come to Cornell because it is a great place to be a biologist. There is a good mixture of both behaviorists and neurobiologists who are interested in the interface between the two fields. He became fascinated with his research question during grad school through reading papers on the topic, since animal communication had always been a point of particular interest for him. The main application of his research is to better understand the role of steroid hormones in hearing loss. Outside of the lab, Dr. Bass enjoys hiking and swimming as hobbies. When selecting undergraduate researchers, he looks for persevering, goal-oriented students possessing a genuine interest in the biology of animals.

Interview with Dr. Andrew Bass of the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior

Andrew Bass does not study bass fish or bass guitars. Incidentally, he does study humming fish, which do produce some research-worthy sounds. I met with Dr. Bass this summer to learn more about these intriguing fish, what he does in his spare time, and probably most importantly for the readers of this article, how an eager undergraduate can score a research position in his lab.

Dr. Bass was born in Staten Island, New York City. After attending undergraduate school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, he took a two-year break and finally decided to attend graduate school at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Now a researcher at Cornell University, Dr. Bass explains what brought him here.

“I was attracted to the unique blend of neurobiologists and animal behaviorists Cornell had,” Dr. Bass explained. “It continues to have this wonderful mix of biologists, and it is really a central place for studying neuroethology, which is a blending of the disciplines of neurobiology and behavior.”

Though he’s always been interested in biology, Bass wasn’t always aware of his love for neuroethology. “In particular, I have always been interested in social behavior, and when I was looking for some extra things to do in my sophomore year of college, I ended up working in a neurobiology lab. I studied vision in reptiles,” Bass told me.

However, vision in reptiles is far from Dr. Bass’s specialty now. Now, he studies “how hormones modify the structure of neurons, particularly those that underlie the sense of hearing and sound production.” He gives an example—the estrogen receptors in the inner ear of humming fish are similar to receptors found in human ears, as well. These receptors “can modify the fish’s sensitivity to different frequencies in response to the long-term effects of circulating estrogen,” Bass explains.

Dr. Bass believes that his research “really gets to the heart of how the nervous systems of animals are adapted to their environments.” And he works in the humming fish’s natural habitat as much as he works in the lab. He says, “Nature is the best place to really see how an animal adapts to its environment.”

Andrew Bass likes to spend time outdoors when he’s not researching, too, mostly hiking, swimming in the ocean when he gets the chance, and snorkeling. I understood a love for water, so I asked him if he would rather live his life on a deserted island or in an underwater city with his humming fish. His reply? “That’s hard. I’d pick the desert island—you get the best of both [underwater and land] worlds.”

My interview was coming to an end, so I took the opportunity to ask a question many science-oriented undergraduates want to know—what it takes to get into a lab like this one. Dr. Bass lists off the qualities: “Commitment, an interest in animal biology as well as what my lab specifically does, and perseverance.”
He left off with some advice for current undergraduates. “Always keep your career options open,” he says. “Don’t be afraid to change directions. There was a time when I considered going to medical school, but I eventually decided that it wasn’t for me. You have to really ask yourself: when I wake up every morning, what am I going to be happiest to do? And that’s what I did.”

An Interview with Dr. Andrew Bass

Andrew Bass developed a strong interest in brains and behavior working with rehabilitated drug addicts in New York City as a high school student. Dr. Bass was curious about how drugs affect behavior, and the underlying neurological mechanisms.

Dr. Bass entered Case Western Reserve University with a peaked interest in biology. Due to skilled, interesting, supportive teachers, Dr. Bass was drawn into the world of research biology. As an undergraduate he worked on the neurobiology of turtle visual behavior with Glenn Northcutt, exploring the affect of brain lesions on behavior. This work contributed to Bass’ general interest in brain evolution, development, and the over-arching behavioral consequences.

After taking a valuable year off, Dr. Bass entered a Ph.d program at the University of Michigan. His research advisor was Glenn Northcutt, who had just become a faculty member at Michigan. While Northcutt continued to work with reptile brains, Dr. Bass’ interests shifted to the neurobiology of fishes. His graduate thesis focused on the organization of olfactory pathways in catfish. As a postdoc, he worked on the neuroethology of electric fish with Carl Hopkins. His work has evolved to studying sound production and vocal communication in fish. The rise in studies of the neural basis of birdsongs during formative years influenced his direction of study.

In addition to research experience, Dr. Bass values his teaching experiences starting from graduate school; he feels teaching, like writing, helps one synthesize ideas in a coherent manner. Dr. Bass stresses that the open communication of ideas among all levels of scientists is essential to the learning process. One of the greatest rewards is to learn from others while watching science progress at an accelerated rate as a result of shared knowledge.

Dr. Bass’ interests began with human behavior and the basic understanding that behavior is based on circuits in the brain. Although his work now is with fish, the underlying ideas are the same. Information from studying neural pathways in animals can be applied to better understanding the human brain and its functions.