Professional Interests
My interests lie in the broad area of Developmental
Biology. My doctoral research focused on the development of the insect
visual system: how the compound eye developed, and how the optic nerve
"hooked up" in the optic lobe of the brain. Since then, my work
in invertebrate systems has got me interested in other aspects of
invertebrate zoology: the bioluminescence of shrimp and their vision and
compound eye structure are my latest interests.
Shrimp produce light in several different ways and for a
variety of purposes. Their cuticular photophores are structures which seem
to function as counterillumination devices. I've been examining their
cellular and ultrastructural characteristics.
The cells which make up the compound eyes of shrimp
include the light-sensitive retinula cells, eight of which contribute
highly-ordered microvilli to the fused rhabdom of each ommatidium. My
current interests include investigation of any variations in the patterns
of rhabdom structures related to depth in the sea, bioluminescence, etc.
Recent Publications
In the past few years I have collaborated with several
British biologists in their labs at the University of Leicester in England
in various studies on invertebrates.
Nowel, M.S., and G.B. Chapman (1976). The ultrastructure
of implanted trophoblast cells of the yellow agouti mouse. J. Anat.
122, 177-188
Nowel, M.S., and P.M.J. Shelton (1980) The eye
margin and compound-eye development in the cockroach: evidence against
recruitment. J. Embryol. exp. Morph. 60, 329-343
Nowel,, M.S. (1980). Ommatidium assembly and formation of
the retina-lamina projection in interspecific chimeras of cockroach. J
Embryol. exp. Morph. 60, 345-358.
Nowel, M.S., and P.M.J. Shelton (1981). A
Golgi-electron-microscopical study of the structure and development of the
lamina ganglionaris of the locust Optic Lobe. Cell Tissue Res. 216,
377-401.
Nowel, M.S.(1981). Formation of the retina-lamina
projection of the cockroach: no evidence for neuronal specificity. J
Embryol. exp. Morph. 62, 241-258
Nowel, M.S.(1981). Postembryonic growth of the compound
eye of the cockroach. J. Embryol. exp. Morph.62, 259-275.
Nowel, M.S., P.M.J. Shelton, and R.O. Stephen
(1995). Functional organisation of the methathoracic femoral chordotonal
organ in the cricket Acheta domesticus. J. Exp. Biol. 198,
1977-1988.
Nowel, M.S., P.M.J. Shelton, and P.J. Herring (1998)
The cuticular photophores of two decapod crustaceans, Oplophorus
spinosus and Systellaspis debilis. Biol. Bull. 195,
290-307.
Nowel, M.S., P.M.J. Shelton, P.J. Herring and E. Gaten
(2002).
Observations on the cuticular photophores of the sergestid shrimp Sergia Grandis Sund, 1920. Crustaceana. Crustaceana 75
(3-4): 551-556
Gaten, E., P.M.J. Shelton, and M.S. Nowel (In Press). Morphology and
ultrastructure of the rhabdoms of oplophorid shrimps. J. Morphology.
