Molecular Pharmacology & Physiology

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Kendall Morris

Kendall Morris, PhD

Professor, Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, College of Medicine

Contact Info

Education

  • PHD, Medical Sciences/ Physiology, University of South Florida, 1993
  • B.A., Mathematics, University of South Florida, 1973

Academic Philosophy

"To paraphrase one of our greatest teachers, Isaac Asimov, the contribution I can make in research is limited to the contribution of one, the contribution I make as a teacher is that of thousands."

Interdisciplinary and Emerging Signature Programs

  • Cardiovascular Sciences
  • Neuroscience

Research Interests

  • Our research is focused on the function and plasticity of distributed, brainstem neural networks involved in cardiorespiratory control. Behaviors of interest include the production of airway protective reflexes such as cough as well as responses to hypoxia, hyper- and hypo-capnia, and lung inflation. Our methods include extracellular spike train recording in vivo, computer assisted data entry and analysis (statistical measurement of cardiorespiratory modulation, cycle triggered histograms, cross correlograms, spike triggered average histograms, and the gravity method) and computer simulations of neural networks inferred from in vivo data.

Awards/Honors

  • Young Investigator Award (American Lung Association of Florida - 2001)
  • Research and Creative Scholarship Grant (USF - 1999)
  • Seed Grant (American Lung Association of Florida - 1999)

Memberships

  • Member (Sigma Xi, 2004 - Present)
  • Member (AAAS, 1994 - Present)
  • Member (American Physiological Society, 1993 - Present)
  • Member (Society for Neuroscience, 1989 - Present)
  • Secretary - Treasurer (Tampa Bay Area Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience, 2007 - 2012)

Recent Publications

  • Hooper JS, Hadley SH, Morris KF, Breslin JW, Dean JB, Taylor-Clark TE. Characterization of cardiovascular reflexes evoked by airway stimulation with allylisothiocyanate, capsaicin, and ATP in Sprague-Dawley rats. Journal of Applied Physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985). 120(6) : 580-91, 2016.
  • Pitts T, Morris KF, Segers LS, Poliacek I, Rose MJ, Lindsey BG, Davenport PW, Howland DR, Bolser DC. Feed-forward and reciprocal inhibition for gain and phase timing control in a computational model of repetitive cough. Journal of Applied Physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985). 121(1) : 268-78, 2016.
  • Nuding SC, Segers LS, Iceman KE, O''Connor R, Dean JB, Bolser DC, Baekey DM, Dick TE, Shannon R, Morris KF, Lindsey BG. Functional connectivity in raphé-pontomedullary circuits supports active suppression of breathing during hypocapnic apnea. Journal of Neurophysiology. 114(4) : 2162-86, 2015.
  • Segers LS, Nuding SC, Ott MM, Dean JB, Bolser DC, O''Connor R, Morris KF, Lindsey BG. Peripheral chemoreceptors tune inspiratory drive via tonic expiratory neuron hubs in the medullary ventral respiratory column network. Journal of Neurophysiology. 113(1) : 352-68, 2015.
  • Dick TE, Hsieh YH, Dhingra RR, Baekey DM, Galán RF, Wehrwein E, Morris KF. Cardiorespiratory coupling: common rhythms in cardiac, sympathetic, and respiratory activities. Progress in Brain Research. 209: 191-205, 2014.
  • Dick TE, Mims JR, Hsieh YH, Morris KF, Wehrwein EA. Increased cardio-respiratory coupling evoked by slow deep breathing can persist in normal humans. Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology. 204: 99-111, 2014.
  • Dick TE, Shannon R, Lindsey BG, Nuding SC, Segers LS, Baekey DM, Morris KF. Arterial pulse modulated activity is expressed in respiratory neural output. Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985). 99(2) : 691-8, 2005.
  • Pitts T, Rose MJ, Mortensen AN, Poliacek I, Sapienza CM, Lindsey BG, Morris KF, Davenport PW, Bolser DC. Coordination of cough and swallow: a meta-behavioral response to aspiration. Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology. 189(3) : 543-51, 2013.
  • Bolser DC, Gestreau C, Morris KF, Davenport PW, Pitts TE. Central neural circuits for coordination of swallowing, breathing, and coughing: predictions from computational modeling and simulation. Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America. 46(6) : 957-64, 2013.
  • Baekey DM, Morris KF, Nuding SC, Segers LS, Lindsey BG, Shannon R. Ventrolateral medullary respiratory network participation in the expiration reflex in the cat. Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985). 96(6) : 2057-72, 2004.
  • O''Connor R, Segers LS, Morris KF, Nuding SC, Pitts T, Bolser DC, Davenport PW, Lindsey BG. A joint computational respiratory neural network-biomechanical model for breathing and airway defensive behaviors. Frontiers in physiology. 3: 264, 2012.
  • Dick TE, Morris KF. Quantitative analysis of cardiovascular modulation in respiratory neural activity. The Journal of physiology. 556(Pt 3) : 959-70, 2004.
  • Ott MM, Nuding SC, Segers LS, O''Connor R, Morris KF, Lindsey BG. Central chemoreceptor modulation of breathing via multipath tuning in medullary ventrolateral respiratory column circuits. Journal of Neurophysiology. 107(2) : 603-17, 2012.
  • Morris KF, Gozal D. Persistent respiratory changes following intermittent hypoxic stimulation in cats and human beings. Respiratory physiology & neurobiology. 140(1) : 1-8, 2004.
  • Morris KF, Schwaber JS. The neuroscience-systems biology disconnect: towards the NeuroPhysiome. Experimental physiology. 97(4) : 452-4, 2012.
  • Segers LS, Nuding SC, Vovk A, Pitts T, Baekey DM, O''Connor R, Morris KF, Lindsey BG, Shannon R, Bolser DC. Discharge Identity of Medullary Inspiratory Neurons is Altered during Repetitive Fictive Cough. Frontiers in physiology. 3: 223, 2012.
  • Shannon R, Baekey DM, Morris KF, Nuding SC, Segers LS, Lindsey BG. Production of reflex cough by brainstem respiratory networks. Pulmonary pharmacology & therapeutics. 17(6) : 369-76, 2004.
  • Poliacek I, Morris KF, Lindsey BG, Segers LS, Rose MJ, Corrie LW, Wang C, Pitts TE, Davenport PW, Bolser DC. Blood pressure changes alter tracheobronchial cough: computational model of the respiratory-cough network and in vivo experiments in anesthetized cats. Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985). 111(3) : 861-73, 2011.
  • Morris KF, Baekey DM, Nuding SC, Dick TE, Shannon R, Lindsey BG. Invited review: Neural network plasticity in respiratory control. Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985). 94(3) : 1242-52, 2003.
  • Ott MM, Nuding SC, Segers LS, Lindsey BG, Morris KF. Ventrolateral medullary functional connectivity and the respiratory and central chemoreceptor-evoked modulation of retrotrapezoid-parafacial neurons. Journal of neurophysiology. 105(6) : 2960-75, 2011.
  • Morris KF, Shannon R, Lindsey BG. Changes in cat medullary neurone firing rates and synchrony following induction of respiratory long-term facilitation. The Journal of physiology. 532(Pt 2) : 483-97, 2001.
  • Morris KF, Baekey DM, Shannon R, Lindsey BG. Respiratory neural activity during long-term facilitation. Respiration physiology. 121(2-3) : 119-33, 2000.
  • Bolser DC, Pitts TE, Morris KF. The use of multiscale systems biology approaches to facilitate understanding of complex control systems for airway protection. Current opinion in pharmacology. 11(3) : 272-7, 2011.
  • Lindsey BG, Morris KF, Shannon R, Gerstein GL. Repeated patterns of distributed synchrony in neuronal assemblies. Journal of neurophysiology. 78(3) : 1714-9, 1997.
  • Davenport PW, Bolser DC, Morris KF. Swallow remodeling of respiratory neural networks. Head & neck. 33 Suppl 1: S8-13, 2011.
  • Morris KF, Arata A, Shannon R, Lindsey BG. Long-term facilitation of phrenic nerve activity in cats: responses and short time scale correlations of medullary neurones. The Journal of physiology. 490 ( Pt 2): 463-80, 1996.
  • Morris KF, Nuding SC, Segers LS, Baekey DM, Shannon R, Lindsey BG, Dick TE. Respiratory and Mayer wave-related discharge patterns of raphé and pontine neurons change with vagotomy. Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985). 109(1) : 189-202, 2010.
  • Dick TE, Baekey DM, Paton JF, Lindsey BG, Morris KF. Cardio-respiratory coupling depends on the pons. Respiratory physiology & neurobiology. 168(1-2) : 76-85, 2009.
  • Morris KF, Arata A, Shannon R, Lindsey BG. Inspiratory drive and phase duration during carotid chemoreceptor stimulation in the cat: medullary neurone correlations. The Journal of physiology. 491 ( Pt 1): 241-59, 1996.
  • Nuding SC, Segers LS, Baekey DM, Dick TE, Solomon IC, Shannon R, Morris KF, Lindsey BG. Pontine-ventral respiratory column interactions through raphe circuits detected using multi-array spike train recordings. Journal of neurophysiology. 101(6) : 2943-60, 2009.
  • Balis UJ, Morris KF, Koleski J, Lindsey BG. Simulations of a ventrolateral medullary neural network for respiratory rhythmogenesis inferred from spike train cross-correlation. Biological cybernetics. 70(4) : 311-27, 1994.
  • Nuding SC, Segers LS, Shannon R, O''Connor R, Morris KF, Lindsey BG. Central and peripheral chemoreceptors evoke distinct responses in simultaneously recorded neurons of the raphé-pontomedullary respiratory network. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences. 364(1529) : 2501-16, 2009.
  • Rybak IA, O''Connor R, Ross A, Shevtsova NA, Nuding SC, Segers LS, Shannon R, Dick TE, Dunin-Barkowski WL, Orem JM, Solomon IC, Morris KF, Lindsey BG. Reconfiguration of the pontomedullary respiratory network: a computational modeling study with coordinated in vivo experiments. Journal of neurophysiology. 100(4) : 1770-99, 2008.
  • Dick TE, Shannon R, Lindsey BG, Nuding SC, Segers LS, Baekey DM, Morris KF. Pontine respiratory-modulated activity before and after vagotomy in decerebrate cats. The Journal of physiology. 586(Pt 17) : 4265-82, 2008.
  • Segers LS, Nuding SC, Dick TE, Shannon R, Baekey DM, Solomon IC, Morris KF, Lindsey BG. Functional connectivity in the pontomedullary respiratory network. Journal of neurophysiology. 100(4) : 1749-69, 2008.

Positions Held

  • Associate Professor (Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, College of Medicine, University of South Florida 2005 - 2010)
  • Assistant Professor (Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, College of Medicine, University of South Florida 1997 - 2005)