Dr. Catherine Dulac

Biography

Catherine Dulac is a Xander University Professor at Harvard University and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Her research aims to explore the molecular and neuronal basis of instinctive social behaviors in mice using molecular, genetic, and electrophysiological techniques. Key questions addressed include the sensory signals that trigger specific social behaviors, the brain areas involved in processing these signals, and the molecular identity of neurons modulated by an animal's physiological state and social experience. Particularly groundbreaking is her work that challenges the traditional understanding of sex-specific behavior circuits in the brain, uncovering that such circuits coexist in both male and female brains. Dulac's research has revealed a hypothalamic set of neurons governing paternal behavior in mice, as well as neuronal populations that control instinctive functions related to social drives, including sickness behaviors. Parallel research efforts involve imaging deep brain structures in awake, behaving mice to establish functional profiles of adult brain areas involved in social behaviors.

Research Interests

Courses