Gül Dölen is a Turkish-American neuroscientist known for studying social behavior, psychedelic drugs and critical periods. As an

MD–PhD The Doctorate of Medicine and of Philosophy (MD–PhD) is a dual doctoral degree for physician–scientists, combining the professional training of the Doctor of Medicine degree with the research expertise of the Doctor of Philosophy degree; the ...

student at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

and later at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, Dölen studied

fragile X syndrome Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a genetic disorder characterized by mild-to-moderate intellectual disability. The average IQ in males with FXS is under 55, while about two thirds of affected females are intellectually disabled. Physical features may ...

and identified a possible treatment target. As a postdoctoral fellow under

Robert Malenka Robert C. Malenka (born June 21, 1955) is a Nancy Friend Pritzker Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. He is also the director of the Nancy Friend Pritzker Laboratory in the Stanford Medical Center. He is a mem ...

, Dölen found that the hormones

oxytocin Oxytocin (Oxt or OT) is a peptide hormone and neuropeptide normally produced in the hypothalamus and released by the posterior pituitary. It plays a role in social bonding, reproduction, childbirth, and the period after childbirth. Oxytocin ...

and

serotonin Serotonin () or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is a monoamine neurotransmitter. Its biological function is complex and multifaceted, modulating mood, cognition, reward, learning, memory, and numerous physiological processes such as vomiting and vas ...

interact with the brain's

nucleus accumbens The nucleus accumbens (NAc or NAcc; also known as the accumbens nucleus, or formerly as the ''nucleus accumbens septi'', Latin for "nucleus adjacent to the septum") is a region in the basal forebrain rostral to the preoptic area of the hypotha ...

to produce good feelings from social interactions ("social rewards") in mice. In 2018, Dölen co-authored a paper that found that

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

es, which are normally anti-social, became more social after exposure to the psychoactive drug

MDMA 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly seen in Tablet (pharmacy), tablet form (ecstasy) and crystal form (molly or mandy), is a potent empathogen–entactogen with stimulant properties primarily used for Recreational dru ...

, which acts on a serotonin pathway The research suggests that there is a common genetic basis of social behavior across much of the animal kingdom. Dölen's recent research, published 2019–2023 in the journal

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

, examines the power of psychedelic drugs like MDMA in re-opening the critical period in social reward learning.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dolen, Gul Women neuroscientists Year of birth missing (living people) Johns Hopkins University faculty Living people

Selected publications

See also

References