Janet Gray - US grants

While estrogens have long been known to have profound effects on reproductive physiology and behavior, this steroid hormone also alters feeding behavior, body weight gain and lipid metabolism. It is believed that these wide range of effects of estrogens are mediated through a receptor-dependent process. Specific protein receptors are localized in target cells within distinct brain regions and compounds that interfere with steroid- receptor binding activity attenuates the hormone response. Indeed these compounds, also known as antiestrogens, are an excellent tool for elucidating the mechanisms underlying the action of estrogen. An extremely interesting finding is that these synthetic agents partially or fully antagonize the effects of estrogen on reproductive physiology and behavior but mimic the effects of estrogen on regulatory processes, such as feeding. Dr. Gray will examine the receptor systems by which these antiestrogens exert their estrogenic agonistic vs antagonistic effects. She has demonstrated the presence of two specific antiestrogen binding sites in different brain regions. She will now characterize the distribution and binding properties of antiestrogen binding sites in the CNS. The results from these studies should lead to a better understanding of how estrogen exerts its complex effects on both reproductive and regulatory systems. Moreover, antiestrogens, such as tamoxifen, nafoxidine, clomiphene, are widely used for the treatment of estrogen- dependent breast tumors. Her work on receptor mediation of antiestrogen effects may help us understand how these compounds act as growth suppressants in tumor cells.

Vassar College, one of the premier undergraduate liberal arts colleges in the country, is the recipient of ARI funds for the renovation and replacement of research and research training space in Blodgett Hall. Constructed in 1927, Blodgett Hall houses six departments, including the Psychology Department, which is the target beneficiary of the modernization project. As an academic field, psychology has become progressively more complex and technologically sophisticated in its application of the scientific method to the study of behavior and its physiological and environmental correlates. The existing space arrangement in Blodgett Hall is not flexible or efficient, lacks required laboratory utilities, and impedes research progress. Though not conducive for supporting research activities, the department has managed to maintain a rigorous program exemplified by active student-faculty research collaborations, quality scientific instrumentation, and a wide range of research training courses for students. The renovation focuses on the reconfiguration and modernization of three laboratory suites in the research intensive areas of: physiology and animal behavior; human neuropsychology, cognition, and perception; and social, personality, and developmental psychology. The replacement and renovation of these research areas will consolidate animal quarters and bring them into full compliance with federal and state guidelines, create a support facility for instrumentation, and improved, accessible spaces for faculty and students. This project will have an enormous impact on ensuring the future quality of faculty research and undergraduate research training programs. As part of the master renovation plan for Blodgett Hall, the improved psychology research facilities will ensure that faculty members remain active and productive research scholars, enabling the recruitment of the highest caliber of new faculty. In turn, Vassar will sustain its efforts to train and excite the next generation of professionals in the behavior and neural sciences.

Biological Sciences (61) The goal of this project is to upgrade the research training program in physiological psychology at Vassar College. As a result of the modernization of our teaching/research laboratory space, we are now incorporating more sophisticated techniques for exploring physiological processes that are correlated with behavioral systems. A main goal of the current project is to incorporate neurochemical techniques, specifically neuropeptide immunocytochemistry and brain enzyme analyses, in this particular course. A secondary goal is to provide opportunities for students to continue on and incorporate contemporary neurochemical approaches to exploring relationships between physiological and behavioral systems in their advanced independent research projects. The laboratory exercises are adapted from exercises demonstrated at a Project Kaleidoscope workshop. The equipment is also being used by faculty, especially the PI of this project, in ongoing faculty research programs, programs that actively involve several undergraduate students each semester. Finally, in addition to enhancing the research training program in the Psychology Department, upgrading of the laboratory component of this course is expected to have substantial positive effects on the curriculum of the Biopsychology Program.