Date: Friday, March 22, 2019
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Simons Center Conference Room, Building 46, Room 6011, 6th Floor, MIT (43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, 02139 MA)

Speaker: Nancy Padilla, Ph.D.

Affiliation: Simons Postdoctoral Fellow, Kay Tye Laboratory, Picower Institute of Learning and Memory, MIT.

Talk title: Investigating the neural circuits underlying social dominance in mice

Abstract: Most animals live in groups organized by social hierarchies. By acting according to their social rank, animals decrease unnecessary aggression and save energy. Although hierarchies are central to successful group dynamics, the neural basis of dominance behaviors remains unknown. Cross-species evidence suggests that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is crucial for social dominance behaviors. Given the role of the lateral hypothalamus (LH) in innate behaviors, and its connectivity with the mPFC, it is well positioned to modulate social behaviors in a rank-dependent manner.  Using a reward competition assay, wireless electrophysiology and optogenetics in mice I am investigating the role of mPFC-LH pathway in social dominance. I will present data that suggest that the mPFC-LH drives winning during social competition.