I began doing research in elementary school by sharpening popsicle sticks to dissect worms and the organs that came from chickens my mother prepared for dinner. Fortunately, when I got to high school I had the opportunity to develop my own research project, using real tools, and I began a lifetime of interest in how events early in life can influence, brain, physiology and behavior throughout life. In that very first experiment I examined the effect of a “healthy” diet and an “unhealthy” diet during prenatal and early postnatal life on growth and behavior of rats.

After college I spent 3 years working in the testing laboratory of a pharmaceutical company, and soon realized that the most interesting work was designing experiments and analyzing results. I would need to return to school if I wanted to participate more in that work. My graduate research returned to the question of rat development, specifically what benefit rat pups gain from consuming the feces of their mothers after they begin to eat solid food. (Answer: Mom’s feces contains lots of bile acids that pups do not yet produce. Bile acids help digest dietary fat and is necessary for formation of normal myelin and maturation of CNS. Lack of normal fat deposition results in slowed behavioral development). By the time I completed my PhD I had become particularly interested in the role of the environment on development and particularly on reproduction.

I spent over 10 years examining the effects of seasonal photoperiod (and temperature) on meadow vole development, maternal and paternal behavior, and a variety of related questions. I also spent about the same length of time exploring the role of seasonal cues on control of annual cycles of hibernation, reproduction, fat deposition and circadian behavior in golden-mantled ground squirrels. Along the way I learned to collect ground squirrels in the field, collected and studied annual rhythms of flying squirrels and European hamsters. I suppose I developed a side “hobby” of figuring out how to get wild rodents to live happily in a lab environment. Happily means they were able to breed well and live long healthy lives.

This skill has been tested maximally with the research that began in 1991 examining the environmental control, development and interaction with reproduction of circadian rhythms in the S. American degu. We have dramatically improved the husbandry, surgical procedures, breeding practices and developed appropriate drug usage in that time, as well as generating a large body of data on circadian control mechanisms. You can read more about this ongoing research in other sections of the website.

Finally, as a fun sabbatical project, I began collaborating with colleagues in the medical school by developing a behavioral ethogram of sheep that were exposed to prenatal androgens. This little project has grown into a massive study of the life history of animals that were exposed prenatally to one of three gonadal steroid during a period of development critical for the shift from female physiology/behavior to male. Sheep are raised in a complex social environment with many social relationships. We are studying how adult behavior emerges as an interaction of the prenatal biological manipulation and the postnatal social interactions.

I graduated from Ashland University with a BS in Biology. I became interested in research while an undergraduate and decided to attend graduate school right after college. I received my Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Michigan in 2005. I investigated sex differences in morphine antinociception under the mentorship of Dr. John Traynor. After graduating, I did a post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Jill Becker at UM, studying the rapid effects of estradiol in the rat. I am the new Lee Lab executive manager/Assistant Research Scientist and will be overseeing projects in both rodent and sheep research. I really enjoy working with undergraduates and look forward to working with students in the Lee lab. In my free time I enjoy spending time with my husband and son and going out with friends. I like playing softball, volleyball and ‘nerd games’ like Settlers of Catan.

I graduated from Grinnell College with a B.A. in Neuroscience and the intention to study the neurobiology of emotion. Now I spend my days daydreaming about body-clocks, examining brain slices, and humiliating pubescent rodents. Perhaps this will earn me a PhD.

I graduated from Bowling Green with a B.S. in neuroscience and studied circadian rhythms in transgenic mice. I presently study circadian and homeostatic influences on sleep in degus. My interests include spending time with family and friends as well as dancing and singing around lab late at night!

While working on the sheep project here at U of M, I received a BS in Biopsychology and a MS in Resource Ecology Management and Conservation Biology. My research interests include, but certainly aren't limited to, the interaction between hormones and social environment and their effects on female reproduction. After five years with the sheep I am moving on to a PhD. to study wild Gelada in the mountains of Ethiopia.

I graduated from the University of Michigan in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science and am currently developing my future plans. I enjoy gardening, reading, cycling, rock climbing, traveling, shopping and fishing. I like dark chocolate, philosophy classes, bubble tea, mango lassis, roller coasters and pets.

I have worked on the Sheep Project for the past two years and during my time here I wrote a senior thesis about the development of rank in sheep exposed to androgens prenatally. I am now the current Project Manager and I'm considering graduate school in the future.