The Stowers Lab
Research
Molecular Neuroscience and Behavior
Our lab is studying how cues in the environment are detected and transformed into electrical activity in the brain to generate behavior. We are identifying the coding logic of all aspects of the system: 1) specific pheromone chemosignals that generate stereotypic behavior, 2) sensory neurons that detect pheromones and other specialized chemosignals, 3) the neural and molecular mechanisms in the brain that result in stereotypic behavior.
We are studying four independent stereotypic behaviors in the mouse: 1) male-male aggression, 2) pup-suckling, 3) inter-species fear, 4) female reproductive behavior. Analysis of these behaviors in parallel will enable us to determine neural mechanisms that specify each behavior as well as common mechanisms that underlie general principles of stereotypic behavior.
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