Ph.D.:	Hebrew University , School of Medicine , 1970
Job Title:	Professor of Neurobiology
Phone:	+972-3-640-9124 Fax: +972-3-640-7271
E-mail:	zviw@tauex.tau.ac.il
Room#:	Room 226, Sherman Building

Personal Information

Research Interests

Selected Publications

Personal Information

STUDIES

1958-1962 Tel Aviv University (TAU), Biology, B.Sc.
1962-1965 Tel Aviv University (TAU), Zoology, M.Sc.
1965-1970 Hebrew University, School of Medicine, Jerusalem, Neurophysiology, Ph.D.
1970-1972 National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA. Postdoctoral trainee in auditory and cellular Neurophysiology

ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

1988- TAU, Zoology, Full Professor
1981-1988 TAU, Zoology, Associate Professor 1974-1981 TAU, Zoology, Senior Lecturer 1969-1974 TAU, Zoology, Lecturer 1967-1969 TAU, Zoology, Instructor 1962-1967 TAU, Zoology, Teaching Assistant 1978-1980 Head, Dept. of Zoology 1993-1994 Dean of Immigrant absorption 1992-1996 Member of the university committee for promotion and tenure 2004 – 2006 President , Israel Society For Neuroscience (ISFN)

Research Interests

The question of whether specific sensory nuclei possess intrinsic constraints that enable them to process only the input of the original sensory modality has been extensively studied in recent years, applying various approaches and experimental procedures. Our principal research interest, along this line, focuses on the rerouting and reorganization of sensory brain areas as a result of congenital or induced blindness. The main animal models that we use are the blind mole rat (Spalax ehrenbergi) - a subterranean rodent that is born with extremely degenerated eyes, and neonatally enucleated hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). Applying electrophysiological, structural, metabolic and projection tracing procedures, we are investigating the response characteristics and connectivity patterns of original visual areas that turned into auditory responding areas following visual impairment.

Selected Publications

Bronchti, G., P. Heil, H. Scheich and Z. Wollberg, Auditory pathway and auditory activation of primary visual centers in the blind mole rat (Spalax ehrenbergi): A 2 deoxyglucos study. J. Comp. Neurol., 28:253274, 1989.

Bronchti, G., Rado, R. Terkel, J. and Wollberg, Z. Retinal projections in the blind mole rat: WGH HRP tracing study of a natural degeneration. Dev. Brain Res., 58:159 170, 1991.

Heil, P., Bronchti, G. Wollberg, Z. and Scheich, H. Invasion of visual cortex by the auditory system in the naturally blind mole rat. NeuroReport 2, 735 738, 1991.

Rado, R., Wollberg, Z. and Terkel, J. The ontogeny of seismic communication during dispersal in the blind mole rat. Anim. Behav., 42:15 21, 1991.

Rado, R., Bronchti, G. Wollberg, Z. and Terkel, J. Sensitivity to light of the blind mole rat: Behavioral and neuroanatomical study. Isr. J. Zool. 38:323 331, 1992.

Doron, N. and Wollberg Z. Cross-modal neuroplasticity in the blind mole rat Spalax ehrenbergi: a WGA-HRP tracing study. NeuroReport, 5:2697-2701, 1994.

Rado, R., Terkel, J.and Wollberg, Z. Seismic communication signals in the blind mole-rat ( Spalax ehrenbergi): electrophysiological and behavioral evidence for their processing by the auditory system. J Comp Physiol A, 183: 503:511, 1998.
Yaka, R., Yinon, U. and Wollberg, Z. Auditory activation of cortical visual areas in cats after early visual deprivation. European J. of Neuroscience, 11:1301-1312, 1999.
Yaka, R., Yinon, U., Rosner, M. and Wollberg, Z. Pathological and experimentally induced blindness induces auditory activity in the cat primary cortex. Exp. Brain Res., 131:144-148, 2000.
Yaka, R., Notkin, N., Yinon, U. and Wollberg, Z. Visual, auditory and bimodal activity in the banks of the Lateral Suprasylvian sulcus in the cat. Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology, 32(1):103-106, 2002.
Izraeli, R., Koay, G., Lamish, M., Heicklen-Klein, A.J., Heffner, H.E., Heffner, R.S. and Wollberg, Z. Cross -modal neuroplasticity in neonatally enucleated hamsters: structure, electrophysiology and behavior. Eur. J. Neurosci., 15:693 -712, 2002.
Bronchti, G., Heil, P., Sadka, R., Hess, A., Scheich, H. and Wollberg, Z. Auditory activation of 'visual' cortical areas in the blind mole rat (Spalax ehrenbergi). Eur. J. Neurosci., 16:311 -329, 2002.
Sadka, R. S. and Wollberg, Z. Response properties of auditory activated cells in the occipital cortex of the blind mole rat: an electrophysiological study. J. Comp. Physiol. A, 190:403-413, 2004.