Catherine Dulac | |
---|---|
Born | 1963 [1] |
Alma mater | University of Paris |
Known for | Mammalian pheromones |
Awards | Richard Lounsbery Award Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences |
Scientific career | |
Academic advisors | Richard Axel |
Catherine Dulac is a French-American biologist. [2] She is the Higgins Professor in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University, where she served as department chair from 2007 to 2013. [3] She is also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She was born in 1963 in France. She came to the United States for her postdoctoral study in 1991.
Dulac has done extensive research on the molecular biology of olfactory signaling in mammals, particularly including pheromones, [4] and downstream brain circuits controlling sex-specific behaviors. [5] She developed a novel screening strategy based on screening cDNA libraries from single neurons and a new method of cloning genes from single neurons. As a postdoc, Dulac discovered the first family of mammalian pheromone receptors when working in Nobel laureate Richard Axel's laboratory at Columbia University. [6]
Dulac grew up in Montpellier, France, graduated from the École Normale Supérieure de la rue d'Ulm, Paris, and earned a Ph.D. in developmental biology from the University of Paris in 1991. [1] She worked with Nicole Le Douarin on developmental biology, and carried out her postdoc studies with Richard Axel at Columbia University where she identified the first genes encoding mammalian pheromone receptors.
Dulac joined the faculty of Harvard Molecular and Cell Biology in 1996, [7] She was promoted to associate professor in 2000 and full professor in 2001. She is currently an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and was the Chair of Harvard's Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology [1] until 2013. She teaches three graduate level course including Molecular Basis of Behavior, Molecular and Cellular Biology of the Senses and Their Disorders, and Molecular and Developmental Biology Neurobiology.
She was elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019. [11]
The vomeronasal organ (VNO), or Jacobson's organ, is the paired auxiliary olfactory (smell) sense organ located in the soft tissue of the nasal septum, in the nasal cavity just above the roof of the mouth in various tetrapods. The name is derived from the fact that it lies adjacent to the unpaired vomer bone in the nasal septum. It is present and functional in all snakes and lizards, and in many mammals, including cats, dogs, cattle, pigs, and some primates. Some humans may have physical remnants of a VNO, but it is vestigial and non-functional.
Neurotrophin-3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the NTF3 gene.
Odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) are small soluble proteins secreted by auxiliary cells surrounding olfactory receptor neurons, including the nasal mucus of many vertebrate species and in the sensillar lymph of chemosensory sensilla of insects. OBPs are characterized by a specific protein domain that comprises six α-helices joined by three disulfide bonds. Although the function of the OBPs as a whole is not well established, it is believed that they act as odorant transporters, delivering the odorant molecules to olfactory receptors in the cell membrane of sensory neurons.
Neuropilin 2 (NRP2) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the NRP2 gene.
Taste receptor type 2 member 1 (TAS2R1/T2R1) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R1 gene. It belongs to the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family and is related to class A-like GPCRs, they contain 7 transmembrane helix bundles and short N-terminus loop. Furthermore, TAS2R1 is member of the 25 known human bitter taste receptors, which enable the perception of bitter taste in the mouth cavity. Increasing evidence indicates a functional role of TAS2Rs in extra-oral tissues.
Taste receptor type 2 member 3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R3 gene.
Taste receptor type 2 member 4 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R4 gene.
Taste receptor type 2 member 8 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R8 gene.
Taste receptor type 2 member 9 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R9 gene.
Taste receptor type 2 member 13 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R13 gene.
Taste receptor type 2 member 7 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R7 gene.
Homer protein homolog 3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the HOMER3 gene.
DAMGO is a synthetic opioid peptide with high μ-opioid receptor specificity. It was synthesized as a biologically stable analog of δ-opioid receptor-preferring endogenous opioids, leu- and met-enkephalin. Structures of DAMGO bound to the µ opioid receptor reveal a very similar binding pose to morphinans.
Vomeronasal receptors are a class of olfactory receptors that putatively function as receptors for pheromones. Pheromones have evolved in all animal phyla, to signal sex and dominance status, and are responsible for stereotypical social and sexual behaviour among members of the same species. In mammals, these chemical signals are believed to be detected primarily by the vomeronasal organ (VNO), a chemosensory organ located at the base of the nasal septum.
Slit-Robo is the name of a cell signaling protein complex with many diverse functions including axon guidance and angiogenesis.
John R. Carlson is an American biologist and professor. He currently holds the Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University.
Christopher A. Walsh is the Bullard Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Chief of the Division of Genetics at Children's Hospital Boston, Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the former Director of the Harvard-MIT MD-PhD Program. His research focuses on genetics of human cortical development and somatic mutations contributions to human brain diseases.
Kimberly W. Anderson is an American chemist. She is the Gill Eminent Professor of Chemical Engineering and Associate Dean for Administration and Academic Affairs in the College of Engineering at the University of Kentucky.
Dragana Rogulja is a Serbian neuroscientist and circadian biologist who is an assistant professor in Neurobiology within the Harvard Medical School Blavatnik Institute of Neurobiology. Rogulja explores the molecular mechanisms governing sleep in Drosophila as well as probing how circadian mechanisms integrate sensory information to drive behavior. Rogulja uses mating behavior in Drosophila to explore the neural circuits linking internal states to motivated behaviors.
Lauren Orefice is an American neuroscientist and assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital and in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. Orefice has made innovative discoveries about the role of peripheral nerves and sensory hypersensitivity in the development of Autism-like behaviors. Her research now focuses on exploring the basic biology of somatosensory neural circuits for both touch and gastrointestinal function in order to shed light on how peripheral sensation impacts brain development and susceptibility to diseases like Autism Spectrum Disorders.