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Miles Orchinik

Miles Orchinik

Affiliated Faculty, Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation

m.orchinik@asu.edu

480-965-5084

School of Life Sciences
Arizona State University
PO Box 874501
Tempe, AZ 85287-4501

Titles

  • Associate Professor, School of Life Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Affiliated Faculty, Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation

Biography

Miles Orchinik is a neuroscientist who studies how stress alters behavior, brain function, and the endocrine system. When a vertebrate is “stressed” by negative conditions, the body releases cortico-steroid hormones. In the brain, these hormones produce changes in neuronal function that help to deal with an immediate threat. When this stress response is persistently activated, harmful changes in brain function may result.

Orchinik’s team studies cellular, molecular and behavioral responses to stress hormones in a variety of species. His team investigates cortico-steroid action primarily in brain regions that integrate information during acute stress responses. They also study the importance of cells that are born in adult vertebrate brains.

He is also interested in science education research, particularly in how undergraduates learn core concepts, and which teaching methods are most effective at promoting learning.

Education

  • PhD, Zoology, Oregon State University, 1992
  • BA, History, San Francisco State University, 1985

Expertise

Journal Articles

2011

Fokidis, H. B., M. Orchinik and P. J. Deviche. 2011. Context-specific aggressive responses in urban birds: No evidence for an involvement of testosterone or corticosterone. Hormones and Behavior 59:133-143. (link )

2009

Fokidis, H. B., M. Orchinik and P. J. Deviche. 2009. Corticosterone and corticosteroid binding globulin in birds: Relation to urbanization in a desert city. General and Comparative Endrocrinology 160(3):259-270. DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2008.12.005. (link )

2001

Deviche, P., C. Breuner and M. Orchinik. 2001. Testosterone, corticosterone, and photoperiod interact to regulate plasma levels of binding globulin and of free steroid hormone in Dark-eyed Juncos, Junco hyemalis. General and Comparative Endocrinology 122(1):67-77. DOI: 10.1006/gcen.2001.7613. (link )

Posters

2009

Fokidis, H. B., M. Orchinik and P. J. Deviche. 2009. Increased territorial responses in urban populations of two Sonoran Desert birds: Hormones or ecology?. Poster presented at the January 2009 Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Boston, MA.

Fokidis, H. B., M. Orchinik and P. J. Deviche. 2009. Increased territorial responses to urban populations of two Sonoran Desert birds: Hormones or ecology?. Tempe, AZ. Poster presented at 11th Annual Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) Poster Symposium, January 15, 2009, Global Institute of Sustainability. (link )