This month’s featured researcher is Annaliese Beery, who is graduate faculty in Neuroscience & Behavior at UMass and an Associate Professor of Psychology at Smith College. She studies the neural basis for affiliative behaviors, which help support social groups. Her PhD student, Nicole Lee, who is a co-author on a recent paper was the co-recipient of the Vincent Dethier Award.

Here’s what’ new for ‘ ”University of Massachusetts” AND Amherst AND neuroscience’ in PubMed. These publications appeared on line in March. They are just a fraction of the research that occurs on campus.

1: Lee NS, Goodwin NL, Freitas KE, Beery AK. Affiliation, Aggression, and Selectivity of Peer Relationships in Meadow and Prairie Voles. Front Behav Neurosci. 2019 Mar 19;13:52. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00052. eCollection 2019. PubMed PMID: 30941022; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6433777.

2: Bowers K, Ding L, Gregory S, Yolton K, Ji H, Meyer J, Ammerman RT, Van Ginkel J, Folger A. Maternal distress and hair cortisol in pregnancy among women with elevated adverse childhood experiences. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2018 Sep;95:145-148. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.05.024. Epub 2018 May 18. PubMed PMID: 29859342.

3: Catanese MC, Vandenberg LN. Developmental estrogen exposures and disruptions to maternal behavior and brain: Effects of ethinyl estradiol, a common positive control. Horm Behav. 2018 May;101:113-124. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2017.10.013. Epub 2017 Nov 8. PubMed PMID: 29107581; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5938171.

4: Madrid JE, Mandalaywala TM, Coyne SP, Ahloy-Dallaire J, Garner JP, Barr CS, Maestripieri D, Parker KJ. Adaptive developmental plasticity in rhesus macaques: the serotonin transporter gene interacts with maternal care to affect juvenile social behaviour. Proc Biol Sci. 2018 Jun 27;285(1881). pii: 20180541. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0541. PubMed PMID: 29925616; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6030517.