Darlene Francis

Assistant Professor (Psychology, Public Health)

Email: darlenefrancis@berkeley.edu

Web site: http://psychology.berkeley.edu/faculty/profiles/dfrancis.html

Research areas: Systems and Computational Neuroscience

At a very broad level research in our laboratory focuses on the interplay between the social and biological worlds. How does information from a given ‘environment’ get transduced into a biological signal which can ultimately alter behavior. For example, using animal models, we can demonstrate that the early environment of an organism can "program" the brain for later life, and this programming can be transmitted intergenerationally to offspring. We can ask (and answer) fundamental questions concerning the relationship between genes and their environment at multiple levels: behaviorally, hormonally and neurobiologically. Ultimately we are attempting to use basic animal models to address fundamental questions about the bidirectional nature of the relationship between social and biological systems. Some key words related to our work would include: behavioral neuroscience, developmental biopsychology, animal models, stress, maternal care, gene-environment interactions, developmental programming of behavior.

Selected Publications

Priebe, K., Brake, W.G., Romeo, R.D., Sisti, H.M., Mueller, A., McEwen, B.S., and Francis, D.D. (in press). Maternal influences on adult stress and anxiety-like behavior in C57BL/6J and BALB/cJ mice: A Cross-Fostering Study Developmental Psychobiology 47: 398-407.

Jaworski, J.N., Francis, D.D., Brommer, C.L., Morgan, E.T., and Kuhar, M.J. 2005. Effects of early ethanol intake, GABA A receptors and metabolizing enzymes in adult rats Psychopharmacology.

Francis, D.D., Szegda, K., Campbell, G., Martin, W.D., and Insel, T.R. 2003. Epigenetic sources of behavioral differences in mice Nature Neuroscience 6(5): 445-446.

Francis, D.D., Diorio, J., Plotsky, P.M., and Meaney, M.J. 2002. Environmental enrichment reverses the effects of maternal separation on stress reactivity Journal of Neuroscience 22(8): 7840-7843.

Francis, D.D., Caldji, C., Champagne, F., Plotsky, P.M. and Meaney, M.J. 1999. The role of corticotropin-releasing factor - norepinepherine systems in mediating the effects of early experience on the development of behavioral and endocrine responses to stress Biological Psychiatry 46(9): 1153-1166.

Francis, D.D., Diorio, J., Liu, D., and Meaney, M.J. 1999. Variations in maternal care form the basis for a non-genomic mechanism of inter-generational transmission of individual differences in behavioral and endocrine responses to stress Science 286(5442): 1155-8.

Francis, D.D. and Meaney, M.J. 1999. Maternal care and the development of stress responses Current Opinion in Neurobiology 9: 128-134.