Christine Ambrosino
Department of Zoology,
University of Hawai`i
2538 McCarthy Mall,
Edmondson 152
Honolulu, HI 96822
cm22@hawaii.edu

Research Interests:

I am a student in the Tricas lab at HIMB and interested in the elasmobranch electrosensory array, particularly that of the scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini). Elasmobranchs, such as the hammerhead, use a specialized system of small organs, the ampullae of Lorenzini, to detect the electrical signatures of their prey and potential mates. But how the electrical cues detected by this system are processed is still unclear. Delving further into the functional subunit hypothesis, my research will focus on isolated ampullary clusters and their effects on dipole detection and orientation.