Frances Champagne

Sept. 20, 2007

Frances Champagne:
Understanding the Mechanisms Mediating the Inheritance of Reproductive Behavior

Frances Champagne, assistant professor of neurobiology and behavior in the Department of Psychology, explores the genetic and environmental factors that may determine how maternal behaviors are passed from mothers to daughters. In other words, she and her team are trying to answer the age-old question: Is it nature or nurture that influences maternal behavior?

Champagne has discovered that it may be both. Without enough physical attention given by mother rats, female offspring had certain genes switch off, leading to changes that affect their DNA—a phenomenon called epigenetics—triggering a process that turns off hormones that regulate maternal behavior.

According to Champagne, scientists are still without a clear picture that shows how genetic and environmental factors “interact to mediate the transmission of maternal behavior from one generation to the next.” The NIH award, said Champagne, “is giving me the opportunity to answer this question, which is fundamental to understanding how social experiences influence the brain.”

– Written by Clare Oh.