Kirill

Kirill Tokarev, Postdoctoral associate

E-Mail: kt66@hunter.cuny.edu

Education:

PhD, Biology, Dept. of Animal Behavior of Free University Berlin, lab of Prof. Constance Scharff

MSc, Zoology, Dept. of Vertebrate Zoology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University/ Institute of Normal Physiology, lab of Prof. Konstantin Anokhin

Publications:

Tokarev K, van der Hoek Y (2017) Structure of lekking courts of male White-bearded Manakins (Manacus manacus) is linked to their attractiveness. bioRxiv. doi: 10.1101/226944

Tokarev K, Hyland Bruno J,  Ljubičić I, Kothari PJ, Helekar SA, Tchernichovski O, Voss HU (2017) Sexual dimorphism in striatal dopaminergic responses promotes monogamy in social songbirds. eLife. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.25819

Tokarev K, Boender A, Claßen GA, Scharff C (2016) Young, active and well-connected: Adult-born neurons in the zebra finch are activated during singing. Brain Structure and Function. DOI: 10.1007/s00429-015-1006-y

Mendoza E, Tokarev K, Düring DN, Camarillo Retamosa E, Weiss M, Nschdejan A, Scharff C (2015) Differential co-expression of FoxP1, FoxP2 and FoxP4 in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) song system. Journal of Comparative Neurology. DOI: 10.1002/cne.23731

Tokarev K, Tchernichovski O (2014) A novel paradigm for auditory discrimination training with social reinforcement in songbirds. bioRxiv. doi: 10.1101/004176

Tokarev K, Tiunova A, Scharff C, Anokhin K (2011) Food for Song: Expression of C-Fos and ZENK in the Zebra Finch Song Nuclei during Food Aversion Learning. PLoS ONE 6(6): e21157. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021157

Research Interests:

I am interested in the evolution and development of communicative systems. My current project is aimed at describing how social interactions influence vocal learning and shape brain activation in response to auditory stimuli. We use zebra finches as an animal model for vocal communication and social interactions.

As a part of this project, we have developed a new training paradigm that allows zebra finches to easily learn to discriminate songs. The protocol and software are freely available at our website – 'Bird Puffer'.

in media:

Researchers describe neural mechanisms for gregariousness and monogamy in zebra finches EurekAlert

Самцы зебровых амадин слушают других самцов, а самки — только супруга Элементы (in Russian)

My heart beats to your tunes only! Kirill Tokarev on how male song promotes monogamy in zebra finch Journal Coverage Podcast interview

Mating Calls Graduate Center News

Twitter @Kiril_Tokarev