Our work explores the interplay between genes and environment, with special emphasis on the importance of social relationships in modulating mood and behavior.
The making and breaking of pair bonds
Human social bonds are highly selective and complex, none more so than those that develop from romantic relationships. The biggest predictor of overall life satisfaction is one’s satisfaction with their spouse. The loss of such an individual can lead to profound grief and increased risk for mental and physical ailments. Unfortunately, commonly used laboratory rodents, such as mice and rats do not form highly selective bonds between adults, and cannot be used to study this essential facet of human behavior; instead, our lab uses monogamous prairie voles. We use cutting-edge tools to visualize and manipulate the circuits that mediate pair-bonding in prairie voles. This includes the use of in vivo calcium imaging, optogenetic manipulations, and chemogenetic manipulations. This work is broadly designed to identify the neuroplasticity underlying bond formation and how a sudden loss of a loved one impacts these circuits.
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The study of love and loss
The Donaldson Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder studies complex social relationships in monogamous mammals, or more specifically, prairie voles. Researching the making and breaking of monogamous pair bonds provides an opportunity to identify related neuroplasticity and how the loss of a loved one can affect biological circuits. This requires the design and development of behavioral apparatus in which social motivation can be autonomously quantified, improving the labor-intensive and time-consuming methods currently in use.
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Ongoing Projects
Do You Believe in a Life After Love? Behavioral and Neuromolecular Responses to Partner Loss
Dopaminergic Signaling Underlying Bonding and Loss
The Neuromodulatory Mechanisms and Function of Interbrain Synchrony in Pair-Bonding
Profiling Changes in the Single-cell Transcriptional Landscape of the Nucleus Accumbens Upon Pair-Bonding
Hippocampal Dynamics Relating to Social Memory that Maintains Pair-Bonds
Investigating the role of inhibitory interneurons of the nucleus accumbens in social attachment