Lisa T. Stowers, Ph.D.

Research

A male mouse listens and sniffs as an animal enters his territory. His sensory systems reveal that it is another mouse, but this is not enough to dictate an appropriate behavioral response. Is the intruder male? Should he fight to defend his territory? This behavior would be a mistake if the intruder were a receptive female. There is no hesitation in his response. Pheromone cues released from the other mouse ensure that social interactions including territorial aggression, sexual behaviors, onset of puberty and maternal responses are executed without error. Our lab utilizes a molecular genetic approach to identify the pheromones that initiate this process, the neurons that are stimulated and the range of the resulting behaviors.