Infants need parental care to develop normally, and failure to provide such care can lead to neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. Recent studies have identified neural circuits in the hypothalamus that determine whether male and female parents’ bond with their infants. 

The National Institutes of Health has awarded Anita Autry, Ph.D., a five-year, $2.5 million grant to discover how these circuits interact to coordinate caregiving behavior. Using mice and techniques including optogenetics and in vivo fiber photometry, Dr. Autry and her colleagues will examine the synaptic activity resulting in both positive and negative infant-directed behavior in both sexes in parents and non-parents. The scientists also plan to identify the molecular mechanisms underlying behavioral, neural circuit, and synaptic effects. The research may lead to early interventions to support healthy parent-infant bonding and promote appropriate infant neurodevelopment. 

Dr. Autry is an assistant professor in the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Einstein and member of the Psychiatry Research Institute at Montefiore Einstein (PRIME). (1R01HD113787-01A1)