Welcome to the Rood Lab

Social interaction has a profound effects on both our behavior and our emotional well-being. Positive social interactions have been shown to have lasting benefits for human health, whereas negative social interaction can lead to worse health outcomes and in severe cases can be causative in the onset of illness. How is it that social stimuli can so powerfully change our emotional and motivational states? What brain regions are involved in the connection between social stimuli, behavioral response, and changes in mood and motivation? The Rood Lab addresses these questions with a multi-tiered approach designed to identify brain regions active during social behavior, identify previously undocumented neuronal phenotypes, identify patterns of neural activity and gene expression, and understand how neuron populations function during a social encounter. Our approach harnesses the power of modern mouse genetics, next-generation sequencing, patch clamp-electrophysiology, histochemical techniques, and rodent behavior testing. Current projects focus on the role of the neuropeptide vasopressin in social behavior and the impact of gonadal steroid hormones on neuronal gene expression and, hence, function.