CAREER: Harnessing species differences to identify the cellular basis of social attachment

What are the changes in brain function that enable only a handful of mammalian species to form pair bonds, an essential behavior for monogamy? Prairie and meadow voles provide an ideal opportunity to home in on such changes in brain function. While these two species live in the same areas, have evolved from a common ancestor, and share many physical characteristics, they exhibit strikingly different social behaviors.

Prairie voles form life long pair bonds while meadow voles are promiscuous. In this CAREER award the PI uses observational approaches and manipulations to ask how differences in brain activity in response to interactions with mating partners contribute to these species-level differences in behavior. In addition to answering a key question in biology, the implementation of new experimental approaches in voles, previously limited to mice, facilitates investigation of questions that are beyond the scope of more traditional laboratory animals.

The research activities provide genuine research experiences and training in advanced neuroscience techniques for undergraduate and graduate students. In addition, incorporation of the project’s results in existing undergraduate coursework enhances interdisciplinary STEM education. The formation of a Pathway to PhD program provides transformative research experiences and opportunities for advancement in STEM for students at a local Hispanic-serving institution.

Social behavior can differ dramatically even between closely related species, and species-appropriate social behavior is critical for survival and reproduction. The mechanisms that enable this diversity remain largely unexamined at the level of neuronal encoding. For instance, how do experience-dependent patterns of neuronal activity differ across species to produce vast differences in monogamy versus promiscuity even in the face of similar social experiences, such as mating?

The goal of this proposal is to identify the neuronal basis of social attachment by leveraging differences in pair bonding in monogamous and promiscuous voles. The PI uses orthogonal imaging and functional approaches to test the hypothesis that species differences in pair bonding in microtine voles result from differences in the encoding of social attachment in mesolimbic reward circuits, and not in brain regions that encode social memory.

Specifically, we compare and manipulate neural ensemble stability across two social brain regions in two species to illuminate the cellular and systems-level controls of complex sociocognitive behaviors. The PI’s passion for social neuroscience, comparative research, outreach, and education is also harnessed to strengthen interdisciplinary and applied STEM education by training undergraduate and graduate students in cutting-edge neuroscience techniques.

Advances from these studies are being incorporated into existing courses at CU Boulder via a Pathway to PhD program for students at a local Hispanic-serving institution. In sum, this CAREER proposal will foundationally advance the PI’s long-term goals by providing insight into the neuronal encoding of social bonds and creating opportunities for STEM education.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.