Gül Dölen
Alma mater
Scientific career
FieldsNeuroscience
Institutions
Websitehttps://neuroscience.jhu.edu/research/faculty/23

Gül Dölen is a Turkish-American neuroscientist known for studying social behavior, psychedelic drugs and critical periods.

As an MD–PhD student at Brown University and later at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dölen studied fragile X syndrome and identified a possible treatment target.[1]

As a postdoctoral fellow under Robert Malenka, Dölen found that the hormones oxytocin and serotonininteract with the brain's nucleus accumbens to produce good feelings from social interactions ("social rewards") in mice.[2]

In 2018, Dölen co-authored a paper that found that octopuses, which are normally anti-social, became more social after exposure to the psychoactive drug MDMA, which acts on a serotonin pathway The research suggests that there is a common genetic basis of social behavior across much of the animal kingdom.[2][3]

Dölen's recent research, published 2019–2023 in the journal Nature, examines the power of psychedelic drugs like MDMA in re-opening the critical period in social reward learning.[4][2]

Selected publications

  • Gül Dölen; Ayeh Darvishzadeh; Kee Wui Huang; Robert C Malenka (1 September 2013). "Social reward requires coordinated activity of nucleus accumbens oxytocin and serotonin". Nature. 501 (7466): 179–184. doi:10.1038/NATURE12518. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 4091761. PMID 24025838. Wikidata Q33881046.
  • Eric Edsinger; Gül Dölen (8 October 2018). "A Conserved Role for Serotonergic Neurotransmission in Mediating Social Behavior in Octopus". Current Biology. 28 (19): 3136-3142.e4. doi:10.1016/J.CUB.2018.07.061. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 30245101. Wikidata Q57294023.
  • Romain Nardou; Eastman M Lewis; Rebecca Rothhaas; Ran Xu; Aimei Yang; Edward Boyden; Gül Dölen (3 April 2019). "Oxytocin-dependent reopening of a social reward learning critical period with MDMA". Nature. 569 (7754): 116–120. doi:10.1038/S41586-019-1075-9. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 30944474. Wikidata Q64941735.
  • Edward Sawyer; Young Jun Song; Mackenzie Wilkinson; et al. (14 June 2023). "Psychedelics reopen the social reward learning critical period". Nature. 618: 790–798. ISSN 1476-4687. Wikidata Q121425859.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "In deep water with Gül Dölen". Spectrum | Autism Research News. 3 August 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Nuwer, Rachel (15 June 2023). "The Psychedelic Scientist Who Sends Brains Back to Childhood". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  3. ↑ Leventhal, Jamie (20 September 2018). "Scientists gave octopuses some molly. Here's what happened". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  4. ↑ "Psychedelic Drug MDMA May Reawaken 'Critical Period' in Brain to Help Treat PTSD". Johns Hopkins Medicine Newsroom. 4 April 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
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