sciencedirect.com/science/articl… "Functional connectivity differences between two culturally distinct prairie vole populations: insights into the prosocial network" by rick joaquin ortiz (richard) is on bluesky and colleagues

Multi-level effects driving cognitive and behavioral variability among prairie voles: Insights into reproductive decision-making from biological levels of organization by Ophir Lab karger.com/Article/PDF/52…

Cool The Atlantic article on the science of heartbreak featuring Zoe Donaldson ! theatlantic.com/family/archive…

Petition to replace Punxsutawney Phil with Prairie Phil & Philipa

"Social isolation and oxytocin antagonism increase emotion-related behaviors and heart rate in female prairie voles" by @tangor3d sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

"Effects of a D2 receptor antagonist on repeated pair bond formation in the male prairie vole" Males voles prefer recent partner over previous. 🚫D2 receptor blocks preference for 2nd partner after loss of 1st but does not preserve preference for 1st. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Developmental exposure to intranasal vasopressin impacts adult prairie vole spatial memory By Caitlyn Finton, PhD and Ophir Lab sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

"Helping behavior in prairie voles: A model of empathy and the importance of oxytocin" Oxytocin receptor knockout voles: are they jerks? sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

As I put my poster together for the SBN Tweets conference, I made some illustrations of prairie voles at four days old, fifteen days old, and adult voles. Feel free to use them :) I have .svg and .ai for most of them as well!

biorxiv.org/content/10.110… Very excited to share the work of Kristen Berendzen and Ruchira Sharma and our collaborators in the Bales Lab and The Shah Lab Strikingly, we find the oxytocin receptor is NOT required for partner preference or parenting behaviors in prairie voles.

Check out the cover of JCN -that’s a vole brain! “Oxytocin receptors are widely distributed in the prairie vole brain” by Kiyoshi Inoue Larry Young and colleagues. doi.org/10.1002/cne.25…

Prairie voles would never have done this

Intranasal oxytocin both reduces ethanol intake (~50%) in male prairie voles AND penetrates the blood brain barrier! Two very cool findings from Andrey Ryabinin nature.com/articles/s4138…

Heeey prairie vole researchers VoleBase! Our latest, led by Jeanne Powell, PhD, examines adult aging and shows that social behavior is plastic not only throughout early development, but also well into adulthood. journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…

Check your email, vole researchers! The next Vole Meeting has been scheduled! 🥳

New paper by Lindsay Sailer 🧠🇭🇳 in Communications Biology! DREADD activation of the lateral septum increases general affiliation for strangers but maintains social selectivity for partners in male #PrairieVoles during a life-history transition in reproductive state nature.com/articles/s4200…

Save the date REMINDER! Vole Meeting 2023 Aug 2 - 5, Boulder, CO Hosted at University of Colorado Boulder from August 2 - 5. This year, we anticipate being able to provide travel awards and delivering workshops on August 2-3 prior to the full meeting.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P… L. reuteri administration alters the gut-brain-behavior axis in a sex-dependent manner in socially monogamous prairie voles "Females, but not males, treated with live L. reuteri displayed lower levels of social affiliation"

Who runs the world? VOLES

Off to a new adventure in Chicagoland! I am thrilled to announce that I have accepted an assistant professor position at NIU ! The Ortiz Neuroscience Lab will be starting this fall! I am forever grateful for all of the people that have helped guide me! TEAM PRAIRIE VOLE!