Biography
Ashwin received a BA in Biophysics at Johns Hopkins University (2007) and a MA/MS in Biology/Marine Biology at Northeastern University (2009). Before entering the PhD program at the University of Washington he was a Research Associate at Duke University in the lab of Sonke Johnsen (2009-2010). Ashwin joined the Sisneros lab in the Fall 2010. His paper published in the Journal of Experimental Biology (JEB) on the behavioral assay he developed using larval zebrafish made the Short List in 2013 for the JEB Outstanding Paper Prize. Ashwin graduated with a Ph.D. in Psychology (Animal Behavior) in Spring 2016. Currently Ashwin is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Harold Burgess at the National Institutes of Health.

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Research Interests
Ashwin is interested in understanding how dynamic environments shape sensory performance. His work focused on hearing sensitivity in larval fishes during ontogeny and after acute noise exposure. Ashwin's work has led to the development of a behavioral assay using prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response to measure auditory thresholds in 5 dpf zebrafish. This assay has been used to show that auditory sensitivity at frequencies above 90 Hz are not dependent on the lateral line in these animals. Ashwin's dissertation work focuses on the effects of acute noise exposure and its effects on startle response sensitivity and loss of PPI.

Publications

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Bhandiwad AA, Raible DW, Rubel EW, and JA Sisneros. 2018. Noise-induced hypersensitization of the acoustic startle response in larval zebrafish. Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology 19: 741–752.

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Uribe PM, Villapando BK, Lawton KJ, Fang Z, Gritsenko D, Bhandiwad A, Sisneros JA, Xu J, and AB Coffin. 2018. Larval zebrafish lateral line as a model for acoustic trauma. eNeuro 5(4) e0206-18.2018 1–17.

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Mohr RA, Chang Y, Bhandiwad AA, Forlano PM, and JA Sisneros. 2018.  Brain activation patterns in response to conspecific and heterospecific social acoustic signals in female plainfin midshipman fish, Porichthys notatus. Brain, Behavior and Evolution 91:31-44.

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Bhandiwad AA, Whitchurch EA, Colleye O, Zeddies DG, and JA Sisneros. 2017. Seasonal plasticity of auditory saccular sensitivity in "sneaker" type II male plainfin midshipman fish, Porichthys notatus. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 203:211-222.

 

Monroe JD, Manning DP, Uribe PM, Bhandiwad AA, Sisneros JA, Smith ME and AB Coffin. 2016. Hearing sensitivity differs between zebrafish lines used in auditory research. Hearing Research 341:220-231.

 

Bhandiwad AA and JA Sisneros. 2016. Revisiting psychoacoustic methods for the assessment of fish hearing. In: Sisneros JA (Ed) Fish Hearing and Bioacoustics: An anthology in honor of Arthur N. Popper and Richard R. Fay. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, Vol. 877, pp. 157-184, Springer Science + Business Media, New York.

 

Coffin AB, Zeddies DG, Fay RR, Brown AD, Alderks PW, Bhandiwad AA, Mohr RA, Gray MD, Rogers PH and JA Sisneros. 2014. Use of the swim bladder and lateral line in near-field sound source localization by fishes. Journal of Experimental Biology. 

 

Bhandiwad AA, Zeddies DG, Raible DW, Rubel EW and JA Sisneros. 2013. Auditory sensitivity of larval zebrafish (Danio rerio) measured using a behavioral prepulse inhibition assay. Journal of Experimental Biology 216:3504-3513. Nominated for the JEB Outstanding Paper Prize Short List 2013.

Petersen CL, Timothy M, Kim DS, Bhandiwad AA, Mohr RA, Sisneros JA, and PM Forlano. 2013. Exposure to advertisement calls of reproductive competitors activates vocal-acoustic and catecholaminergic neurons in the plainfin midshipman fish, Porichthys notatus. Public Library of Science One 8(8):e70474

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