Boston University Department of Biology

Faculty Profiles

Current Research

My research concerns the mechanisms controlling the sexual differentiation and adult display of courtship behaviors in mice. One project uses transgenic mice in which the Cyp-19 (aromatase) gene has been disabled to study the role of the sex hormone, estradiol, in the differentiation of female-typical aspects of courtship behavior, including olfactory responses to conspecifics. Another project concerns the interaction between the main and accessory olfactory nervous systems in the control of mate recognition and sexual motivation in male and female mice. Techniques that I use include brain immunocytochemistry to localize neuronal immediate-early gene products, steroid hormone receptors and several neuropeptides; in situ hybridization autoradiography to localize and quantify mRNAs for pheromone receptors in the vomeronasal organ; the quantitative analysis of sexual, scent marking, and maternal behaviors as well as operant methods for assessing animals’ ability to detect pheromones as well as their sexual partner preferences; and brain infusions of neurotoxins, tract tracers and neuropeptides to study the olfactory mechanisms controlling sociosexual behaviors.

Collaborators

1. Dr. James Cherry, Dept. of Psychology, Boston University

2. Dr. Julie Bakker, Dept. of Biochemistry, University of Liege, Belgium

Courses Taught

• BI 545 Neurobiology of motivated behavior
• BI 230 Behavioral endocrinology

Selected Publications

• Martel KL, Baum MJ. (2007). Sexually dimorphic activation of the accessory, but not the main, olfactory bulb in mice by urinary volatiles. European Journal of Neuroscience, 26, 463-475.
• Robarts DW, Baum MJ. (2007). Ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus lesions disrupt olfactory mate recognition and receptivity in female ferrets. Hormones and Behavior, 51, 104-113.
• Baum MJ. (2006). Mammalian animal models of psychosexual differentiation: When is ‘translation’ to the human situation possible? Hormones and Behavior, 50, 579-588.
• Pankevich DE, Cherry JA, Baum MJ. (2006). Effect of vomeronasal organ removal from male mice on their preference for and neural Fos responses to female urinary odors. Behavioral Neuroscience, 120, 925-936.
• Alekseyenko OV, Baum MJ, Cherry JA. (2006). Sex and gonadal steroid modulation of pheromone receptor gene expression in the mouse vomeronasal organ. Neuroscience, 140, 1349-1357.
• Pankevich DE, Baum MJ, Cherry JA. (2004). Olfactory sex discrimination persists whereas the preference for urinary odorants from estrous females disappears in male mice after vomeronasal organ removal. Journal of Neuroscience, 24, 9451-9457.
• Kelliher KR, Baum MJ. (2001). Nares occlusion eliminates heterosexual partner selection without disrupting coitus in ferrets of both sexes. Journal of Neuroscience, 21, 5832-5840.
• Isles AR, Baum MJ, Ma D, Keverne EB, Allen ND. (2001). Parent of origin effects on odour preference in mice. Nature, 409, 783-784.