Featured Publication

Birth signaling hormones and the developmental consequences of cesarian delivery 

“The differences in hormone signaling seen in CS neonates may produce long-term neurodevelopmental consequences.”

Nov. 2020 . In Journal of Neuroendocrinology

Recent Publications

Delivery by cesarean section leads to heavier adult bodyweight in prairie voles

The lab’s first metabolic study! Voles delivered by c-section seem to model some aspects of the obesity seen in humans delivered by c-section

Lasting consequences on physiology and social behavior following cesarean delivery in prairie voles

Voles delivered by cesarean section failed to form partner preferences as adults —unless they were given oxytocin at birth!

Neuroanatomical and functional consequences of oxytocin treatment at birth in prairie voles

We can see differences in brain activity in adulthood following oxytocin administration at birth

Rewritable fidelity - How repeated pairings and age influence subsequent pair-bond formation in male prairie voles

Male prairie voles retain their monogamous behavior even after ten pairings

Behavioral and epigenetic consequences of oxytocin treatment at birth

Oxytocin administered to the pregnant female shortly before birth can influence offspring development

The neurobiological causes and effects of alloparenting

Alloparental species present ample opportunity for neuroendocrine investigations of prosocial behavior.

Meta-research

Corpus Colossal: A Bibliometric Analysis of Neuroscience Abstracts and Impact Factors

I used basic text-mining techniques to create a large collection of words (corpus) from ~50,000 neuroscience abstracts and compared which terms accrue the most citations and which are featured more frequently in high-impact journals.

Jul. 2019 . Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience

Optoreplication

I discuss how sophisticated methods can often make up for the lack of novel findings in the eyes of high-impact journal editors.

Oct. 2017 . Medium

What’s Spiking in Neuroscience

My first attempt at quantitative meta-research, an analysis of which subjects in neuroscience research get the most reviews written about them relative to original research.

Feb. 2017 . Medium