Contact Information

UCLA Department Neurobiology
78-113 BRI Building
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1763
On-campus mail: 176318
Tel: (310) 825-5303
Fax:(310) 825-2224
E-mail: rharper@ucla.edu

Biosketch

Dr. Harper received his doctorate from McMaster University (Ontario, Canada) in 1968, and was later a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Anatomy at UCLA. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Neurobiology, UCLA and a member of the UCLA Brain Research Institute. The primary objective of his research program is to determine the neural mechanisms that underlie the control of breathing and cardiovascular action during sleep. His laboratory examines these mechanisms through basic studies of neural functioning in animals and physiological and neural imaging studies of humans with normal and disordered breathing during sleep. The conditions with aberrant breathing and cardiovascular action include the sudden death of infants during sleep in the first six months of life (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, SIDS, crib death), infants who are unable to sustain ventilation during sleep (Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome, CCHS, "Ondine's Curse"), and adults with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) or heart failure; both of the latter conditions are characterized by severely impaired breathing and cardiovascular control during sleep.

Dr. Harper's publications include over 250 original articles, review articles, chapters and editorials; he has co-edited two books and participated in numerous national and international conferences and symposia. He is the P.I. on two grants, one on physiological development in SIDS and one on the neural control of cardiorespiratory function; he is also a subcontract P.I. on a SCOR Program grant on neural sites mediating obstructive sleep apnea (P.I. Jerome Siegel). He has served as a co-investigator on several grants, including a multi-site training program for basic sleep research (P.I. Michael Chase), a training program in oral-facial motor control (P.I. G. Bernard) and one dealing with sleep disordered breathing and the metabolic syndrome (P.I. M. Saad). He has served on the editorial board of several scientific journals and has served as a consulting reviewer on many leading journals, including Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, Experimental Neurology, Journal of Applied Physiology, Journal of Physiology and American Journal of Physiology. Over the years, he has sponsored or co-sponsored several successful NIH K-series awards (Drs. M. Scher, D. Gozal, U. Rao, M. Woo, E. Pae).

Dr. Harper's principal teaching efforts have been in a professional school course, Functional Neuroanatomy for the first year UCLA Dental School class; he also participates in several Neuroscience and Neurobiology graduate courses throughout the year. Dr. Harper's laboratory has continued to be as source of innovative procedures for teaching, including 3-D visualization of neural material, partially acquired from his own imaging research efforts, and development of video material on CD-ROM media used to demonstrate neural pathology.

Over the years Dr. Harper has trained 12 graduate students and overseen the research for 23 postdoctoral fellows, as well as a number of Student Research Program undergraduates and students from the CARE Program. A substantial portion of his time has been devoted to professional and UCLA service, including the School of Dentistry Faculty Executive Committee, the School of Dentistry Committee, the Chancellor's Committee on Vivarium Usage and the departmental Committee for Advancement to Professorial Rank.

Selected References

Gozal D, Omidvar O, Kirlew KAT, Hathout GM, Hamilton R, Lufkin RB and Harper RM. Identification of human brain regions underlying responses to resistive inspiratory loading with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 92(14):6607-6611, 1995.

Harper RM, Richard CA and Rector DM. Physiological and ventral medullary surface activity during hypovolemia. Neuroscience 94(2):579-586, 1999.

Macey PM, Henderson LA, Macey KE, Alger JR, Frysinger RC, Woo MA, Harper RK, Yan-Go FL and Harper RM. Brain morphology associated with obstructive sleep apnea. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 166:1382-1387, 2002.

Harper R.M, Macey PM, Henderson LA, Woo MA, Macey KE, Frysinger RC, Alger JR, Nguyen KP and Yan-Go FL. FMRI responses to cold pressor challenges in control and obstructive sleep apnea subjects. Journal of Applied Physiology 94:1583-1595, 2003.

Woo MA, Macey PM, Fonarow GC, Hamilton MA and Harper RM. Regional brain gray matter loss in heart failure. Journal of Applied Physiology 95: 677-684, 2003.