RESEARCH
I work with unique model organisms that allow me to investigate questions about the neurohormonal basis of social behaviors. As a graduate student in the Bass Lab at Cornell, I studied the role of the forebrain preoptic area in regulating the alternative reproductive tactics of plainfin midshipman fish (Porichthys notatus). As a postdoctoral fellow in the Phelps Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, I have worked with non-traditional model rodents, prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) and Alston's singing mice (Scotinomys teguina) to better understand mechanisms of mammalian social behavior including pair bonding and vocal communication. Currently, I am an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Postdoctoral Fellow. For this research, I am using viral, behavioral, molecular, and genomic approaches to understand how cues of social context and energy balance are integrated to influence social signaling behavior in singing mice.
Tracing circuits underlying vocal motor control
I am using retrograde viral tracing to identify the circuitry controlling singing mouse vocalization. By tracing the inputs to muscles involved in vocal production, I can identify the regions of the singing mouse brain involved in regulating vocal behavior.
Identifying and characterizing neurons that integrate social environment with energetic state
Singing mouse vocal effort is influenced both by social environment (e.g. hearing another mouse sing) as well as their energetic reserves, signaled by the hormone leptin. I am using markers of neural activity to identify neurons that are excited by manipulations of social context and leptin signaling. Once these integrator neurons are identified, next generation sequencing techniques (PhosphoTRAP, single-nucleus RNAseq) can be used to characterize their molecular identity.
Tracing circuits underlying vocal motor control
I am using retrograde viral tracing to identify the circuitry controlling singing mouse vocalization. By tracing the inputs to muscles involved in vocal production, I can identify the regions of the singing mouse brain involved in regulating vocal behavior.
Identifying and characterizing neurons that integrate social environment with energetic state
Singing mouse vocal effort is influenced both by social environment (e.g. hearing another mouse sing) as well as their energetic reserves, signaled by the hormone leptin. I am using markers of neural activity to identify neurons that are excited by manipulations of social context and leptin signaling. Once these integrator neurons are identified, next generation sequencing techniques (PhosphoTRAP, single-nucleus RNAseq) can be used to characterize their molecular identity.