Educational and Professional Background
1959: B.S. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Physics
1965: Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles, Physiology
Dr. Junge received a B.S. in Physics from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Physiology from UCLA. His thesis concerned the mechanism of rhythmic discharge from mollusc neurons. He then carried out a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in the laboratory of S. Hagiwara. After joining the faculty of the School of Dentistry, he studied taste mechanisms in bullfrogs as well as ionic mechanisms in single neurons. His research has usually included mathematical models of the phenomena involved. A total of seven students have received Ph.D. degrees while working in his lab. Dr. Junge has written textbooks on Nerve and Muscle Excitation and Oral Sensorimotor Function. He is a member of the American Association of Oral Biologists, the International Association for Dental Research and the Society for Neuroscience. He is currently collaborating with Dr. Spigelman, developing mathematical models of dorsal root ganglion neurons involved in pain transmission. He now teaches courses in oral neurophysiology and scientific ethics.
Research/Creative Activities
Dr. Junge has done research in the areas of taste, ionic properties of single neurons, and mathematical models of neuron behavior. He has also studied the neuromuscular properties of the human jaw muscles, including small tremor movements and associated EMG signals. Presently he is developing a model of dorsal root pain neurons that can account for ion channel properties in conditions such as neuropathic pain (with I. Spigelman).
Courses taught
Oral Biology 201b – Homeostasis in Oral Systems
Oral Biology 209 – Scientific Ethics
Oral Biology 422c – Oral Neurophysiology
Professional memberships and activities:
American Association of Oral Biologists
International Association for Dental Research
Society for Neuroscience
Recent Publications
Junge, D., Oral Sensorimotor Function, St. Louis, Medico-Dental Media International, Inc., 182p (1998). A textbook of oral neurophysiology.
Junge, D., Rosenberg, J.R. and Halliday , D.M., "Physiological tremor in human jaw muscle system," Arch. Oral Biol. 43:45-54 (1998).
Junge, D., Mommaerts, W. and Windhorst, U., "Sensory transduction and neural coding," In: Comprehensive Human Physiology: From Cellular Mechanisms to Integration, Ed. by Greger, R. and Windhorst, U., Berlin , Springer-Verlag, 295-306 (1996).
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"I was recruited in 1967, when the school was just three years old. I was given an enormous lab space, a startup grant of $10,000, and freedom to do pretty much any kind of research I wanted – heaven!"
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