Romantic bonds reinforce our health and well-being while their sudden loss is highly detrimental. To identify the neural and genetic mechanisms that contribute to the positive physiological effects of social bonds, my laboratory has taken advantage of the unique behavioral repertoire of monogamous prairie voles. Unlike laboratory rats and mice, prairie voles form life-long pair bonds and exhibit distress upon partner separation. In this seminar, I will focus on recent work delineating transcriptional signatures of pair bonding and partner loss as an example of how we have leveraged our research on bond formation to understand the neural processes that enable recovery from loss. Ultimately, I anticipate that this work will lead to novel ways in which we can harness the positive biological effects of social bonds and ameliorate the emotional pain and harmful health consequences of loss.
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