CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

My research interests are neurobiology and neuronal circuits involved insocial behavior. My postdoctoral project is in Universityof Buenos Aires, and in collaboration with Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC).My research in Buenos Aires is under Dr. Pandolfi´s and Dr. Somoza´ssupervision, and it has been focused on neuroendocrineregulation of aggressive behavior in fish. We used as experimental model Cichlasoma dimerus, a monogamous andbiparental cichlid species in which both males and females are very aggressivedefending their territory. Surprisingly, aggressive behavior is usually studiedin males, even though females can also be very aggressive. We analyzed the roleof estrogens and androgens in intrasexual aggressive behavior in both sexes, inthe context of the Challenge Hypothesis. Duringthese years I got gradually involved in neuronal circuits regulating behaviorand I became interested in studying aggressive behavior in the context ofSocial Decision Making Network (SDMN). The SDMN is an evolutionary conservedbrain network regulating most social behaviors in vertebrates. In order tostudy neuronal circuits involved in male and female aggression, I was awardedwith several fellowships that allowed me to perform a research internshipduring nine months in Dr. Rui Oliveira´s laboratory in IGC in Portugal. Underhis supervision, I started working with male and female aggression and SDMN inzebrafish. I am studying brain areas involved in winning and losing intrasexualcontests and, considering that historically aggression has been studied inmales and not in females, I am trying to disentangle if this behavior involvesdifferential patterns of brain activation in both sexes. For this purpose Iperformed intrasexual dyadic contests and analyzed brain activation byimmunohistochemistry of the phosphorylated ribosomal protein pS6. I amcurrently performing brain network analysis in order to compare correlationnetworks according to social experience.