Simone Helluy

Senior Instructor in Biological Laboratory

Room 391, Science Center
Phone: (781) 283 3558
Email: shelluy@wellesley.edu

 

Most of my research efforts have stemmed from a fascination with larval parasites that alter the behavior of their invertebrate intermediate hosts. This interest has led me to explore various disciplines in invertebrate neurobiology from amines and behavior, to ontogeny and phylogeny of crustacean brains. Trained as a general zoologist and a parasitologist. I received a Maîtrise es Sciences and a Doctorat de 3ème cycle from the Université de Montpellier (USTL), France, and a Ph.D. from the University of Alberta, Canada. While at Wellesley, I have worked on the developmental neurobiology of lobsters with Barbara Beltz, and taught the laboratory sections of Organismal Biology (Bisc 111), Vertebrate Anatomy and Physiology (Bisc 203), Marine Biology (Bisc 210), Brain and Behavior (Bisc 213), Developmental Biology (Bisc 216), and Tropical Ecology (Bisc 308) with a winter session in Belize and Costa Rica.

Whole mounts of Gammarus lacustris brains uninfected (left) and infected by the larval stage of the parasite Microphallus papillorobustus (right) labeled for serotonin (green) and synapsin (red), and observed in confocal microscopy. The architecture of the giant neuron is altered in infected gammarids, as well as the levels of serotonin immunoreactivity in the optic and olfactory regions (Scale bars: 100 µm). (From Helluy and Thomas, 2003).

 

Selected Publications:

Helluy S. and J.C. Holmes (2005) Parasitic manipulation: further considerations. Behavioural Processes, 68:205-210. PDF file

Helluy S. and F. Thomas (2003) Effects of Microphallus papillorobustus (Platyhelminthes, Trematoda) on serotonergic immunoreactivity and neuronal architecture in the brain of Gammarus insensibilis (Crustacea, Amphipoda). Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B, 270:563-568. PDF file

Thomas F., K. Mete, S. Helluy, F. Santalla, O. Verneau, T. De Meeus, F. Cezilly, and F. Renaud (1997) Hitch-hiker parasites or how to benefit from the strategy of another parasite. Evolution, 51:1316-1318.

Helluy S., J. Benton, K. Langworthy, M. Ruchhoeft, and B. Beltz (1996) Glomerular organization in the developing olfactory and accessory lobes of the American lobster. Stabilization of numbers and increase in size after metamorphosis. J. Neurobiol. 29:459-472.

Helluy S., R. Sandeman, B. Beltz, and D. Sandeman (1993) Comparative Brain ontogeny of the crayfish and clawed lobster: Implications of direct and larval development. J.Comp. Neurol. 335:343-354.

Helluy S., and J.C. Holmes (1990) Serotonin, octopamine and the clinging behavior induced by the parasite Polymorphus paradoxus (Acanthocephala) in Gammarus lacustris (Crustacea). Can. J. Zool. 68: 1214-1220.

Helluy S. (1983) Un mode de favorisation de la transmission parasitaire: la manipulation du comportement de l'hôte intermédiaire. Rev. Ecol. (Terre Vie). 38: 211-223.