Nandini Vasudevan
From
In residence at
Host scientist
Matthieu Keller
BIOGRAPHY
Nandini Vasudevan is a neuroendocrinologist interested in understanding how hormones drive behaviours, particularly behaviours that differ between the sexes, using behavioural, cellular and molecular approaches in several model systems. She is currently Associate Professor of Endocrinology at the University of Reading, UK. During her PhD and postdoctoral journeys, she investigated transcriptional regulation of genes by estrogens and thyroid hormones as well as behavioural phenotypes in mice where receptors for these hormones were deleted. She also continues to investigate novel signalling pathways i.e integrated signalling and rapid non transcriptional signalling by hormones and their physiological relevance.
In the last decade or so, she has also become interested in the role of ligands and endogenous steroids made in the brain - i.e neurosteroids and their regulation by internal and external stimuli. In addition, along with various collaborators, she is interested in oscillatory phenomena and in establishing novel model systems to study behaviours. Apart from research, she teaches neuroscience and endocrinology in undergraduate courses at the University of Reading.
PROJECT
Social behaviour in females: is it androgen-dependent?
Sex behaviour is key to species survival but the underlying mechanisms are only now being unraveled. In rodents, sex behaviour is critically dependent on estrogen signaling via the estrogen receptors. Our previous work suggests that estrogen acts via both classical genomic and rapid, non-genomic pathways in cells. Candidate molecules for rapid regulation of behaviour include the synthesis of the ligand itself i.e. neuroestrogens from testosterone by aromatase in the brain. Functionally, though ablation of neuroestrogens reduces song learning in male finches and sex behaviour in the male quail, the role of neuroestrogens in female sex behaviour (lordosis) is unclear. Also, though studies show robust regulation of aromatase by external stimuli, evidence for internal stimuli that regulate brain aromatase is confined mostly to cell lines. Hence, based on our novel data that androgens made in the female brain increase neuroestrogens, we hypothesize that rapid neuroandrogen synthesis is a result of physiologically relevant stimuli and the resultant neuroestrogens such as 3b-diol drive female sex behaviour. The objective is to investigate both the production of neurosteroids (Aim I) and role of neuroandrogens and neuroestrogens (Aim II) on social preference and anxiety in females. This research is innovative because, if successful, suggest that androgens regulate female social behaviours that may be influenced by anxiety. This study is the first step in elucidating the molecular details of a non-genomic pathway, including the interaction of estrogen with testosterone signaling and to explore ways in which the female brain differs from the male brain.