Grant: Project Grant

We live in a world profoundly shaped by social behaviours involving interactions and communications between the members of a given species. All mammals, ranging from primates to rodents, depend on each other to survive and reproduce. For children and young adults, neglect and being deprived of social contact are particularly detrimental. Prolonged isolation during childhood or adolescence interferes with brain development and causes long-term deficits in behaviour, a major one being social impairments. However, our knowledge on the brain systems associated with and underlie social deficits is limited. Yet, it is imperative to understand the mechanisms in order to develop better treatment strategies. My lab studies the long-term social deficits resulting from chronic social isolation. We use a mouse model that is deprived of social contact starting at adolescence and that develops impairments in social interaction during adulthood. We recently made a highly exciting discovery that a specialized group of brain cells (neurons) that are conserved between mice and humans, are critical and essential for social interaction. In this project, we aim to identify how deficits in the activity of these neurons contribute to social impairments and how we can target this system to improve isolation-induced behavioural deficits. Our ultimate goal is to develop more effective therapeutic approaches for those suffering from social deficits.