Melody V. Wu

The paper assembles chromosome-scale diploid genomes of prairie and meadow voles using a single-library approach, identifying a prairie-vole-specific duplication of Avpr1a associated with pair bonding.

The paper compares gonadal hormone receptor expression in the brains of prairie voles, meadow voles, and mice to identify species-specific patterns linked to social behavior differences.

This study identifies area postrema neurons as mediators of IL-6 function in cancer-associated cachexia, showing that targeting these neurons can prevent cachexia and prolong lifespan in mice.

This study identifies ER-regulated genes in a sexually dimorphic neural circuit, showing ER induces a neurodevelopmental gene program and interacts with Nfix to regulate male-biased gene expression.

The paper shows that estrogen receptor alpha is required in GABAergic neurons, but not glutamatergic neurons, for masculinizing brain regions and male behaviors in rodents.