Research
Primary Areas of Interest
As a behavioral neuroendocrinologist, I have three main focuses in my work: animal behavior, neuroscience, and hormones. With an emphasis on female animals, I look at the intersection between behavior, brains, and hormones.
Animal Behavior
Female animal behavior is often overlooked in fields from neuroscience to behavioral ecology. I focus on exploring female territorial aggression, a highly underexplored topic outside of avian research. Currently, I look at home defense in territorial female California mice.
Neuroscience
The neurobiology of aggression is a fascinating and ever growing topic. I currently focus on the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and its role in both aggression and anxiety. Although both have been looked at separately in male and female California mice, I am currently exploring what sex differences (if any) may occur in this region.
[Photo credit: image drawn by Dr. Natalia Duque-Wilckens in Steinman et al., 2016 in Biological Psychiatry]
Hormones
Historically, steroid hormone testosterone is the focus when examining the biology of aggression. Although fluctuations in testosterone is related to aggression in a variety of animals, this is not true for many female animals - despite females still displaying aggression. My current project is exploring what hormones are involved in female California mouse territorial aggression.
