Research Overview
The brain is comprised of a multitude of neural circuits that regulate countless neural functions and behaviors. Moreover, these distinct microscopic circuits are intermingled making it difficult to study one neural circuit without affecting unrelated circuits. The ability to study functionally distinct neural circuits in isolation is essential for our understanding of brain function as well as for development of future therapeutics that affect a targeted set of neurons without causing unwanted alterations to other intermingled neurons. To do this, neuroscientists utilize the fact that distinct neural populations within a brain region can be identified based on their neural projection patterns as well as expression of unique genes (exemplified by the different colored intermingled cells in the mouse brain image). Thus, modern neuroscientists are able to use advanced molecular genetic techniques to isolate and study gene-specific and projection-specific neural circuits.
In the Bayless Lab, we isolate and study neural circuits that express sex hormone receptors. This is because the social behaviors we study often present differently in males and females; therefore, the neural circuits underlying these behaviors are likely to be affected by sex hormones (e.g., express sex hormone receptors). Sex hormone receptors are expressed in subsets of cells throughout the brain in regions implicated in social and non-social behaviors. Our molecular genetic approach in mice enables: 1) the identification of genetically-specified neural circuits that modulate specific social behaviors without affecting unrelated neural processes, 2) the study of flexibility in these neural circuits resulting from positive and negative experiences, and 3) an increased understanding of the influence of sex hormones on neural development and the processing of social information.