Equipment for social neuroendocrinology research

加拿大人报告了超过220万起暴力事件（加拿大统计局，2014年），突出表明侵略行为仍然是加拿大的一个重大社会问题。详细说明导致攻击变异性的潜在生物学机制对于全面了解这种潜在破坏性行为的发展和表达的风险因素至关重要。我们的研究表明，睾丸激素对竞争的反应取决于诸如胜利与失败之类的环境因素，睾丸激素的这种变化积极地映射到竞争和攻击性行为。我们开发了新的药理学挑战方案来研究睾酮在促进竞争和攻击行为中的因果作用。我们的研究表明，单剂量的睾丸激素会迅速增加攻击性，尤其是在强势和冲动的男性中，增加男性对自己面部优势的自我感知，降低男性在资源竞争中愿意放弃经济资源的程度，并提高男性对女性面部吸引力的评价。总的来说，这些发现与睾丸激素急剧上升可能有助于快速微调心理和行为过程的观点是一致的，这些过程涉及促进与健康相关的行为，如攻击性、竞争性和交配行为。尽管我们对睾酮在促进竞争和攻击性行为中的作用的理解有所进步，但仍有几个悬而未决的问题；睾酮对攻击性行为的影响是由雄激素受体介导的吗？睾丸激素会促进女性的攻击性吗？皮质醇是否在调节睾酮对人类攻击性的影响中起作用？睾酮在促进人类交配努力方面是否发挥了更广泛的作用？我们正在进行的研究解决了这些挑战，并有可能对人类攻击、竞争和交配行为差异的基本神经内分泌机制产生关键的见解。睾酮浓度的测量对我们的研究项目至关重要。不幸的是，在过去的一年里，用于进行激素免疫测定的两件重要设备已经超过了它们的使用寿命，需要立即更换。这些设备在我们的研究项目中是绝对必要的，因为我们需要能够准确地估计唾液和血清睾酮浓度的变化，以便有效地解决我在NSERC发现基金中提出的研究问题。我实验室的博士后、研究生和本科生有能力学习如何使用EIA和LC-QTOF方法分析类固醇激素。这些独特的机会为他们在学术界或工业界（如制药、商业实验室）的职业生涯做好了准备。

More than 2.2 million violent incidents were reported by Canadians (Statistics Canada, 2014), highlighting the fact that acts of aggression remain a significant societal problem in Canada. Detailing the underlying biological mechanisms that contribute to variability in aggression is critically important to a comprehensive understanding of the risk-factors for the development and expression of this potentially destructive behaviour. Our research has demonstrated that testosterone responses to competition depend on contextual factors such as victory vs. defeat and that such changes in testosterone positively map onto competitive and aggressive behaviour. We have developed novel pharmacological challenge protocols to study the causal role of testosterone in promoting competitive and aggressive behaviour. Our work indicates that a single dose of testosterone rapidly increases aggression, especially among dominant and impulsive men, increases men's self-perception of their own facial dominance, reduces the extent to which men are willing to cede financial resources during resource competition, and increases men's ratings of female facial attractiveness. Collectively, these findings are consistent with the idea that acute rises in testosterone may serve to rapidly fine-tune psychological and behavioural processes involved in promoting fitness-relevant behaviours such as aggressive, competitive, and mating behaviour. Despite advances in our understanding of the role of testosterone in promoting competitive and aggressive behaviour, several outstanding questions remain; Are the effects of testosterone on aggressive behaviour mediated by the androgen receptor? Does testosterone promote aggression in women? Does cortisol play a role in modulating the effects of testosterone on human aggression? Does testosterone play a broader role in promoting mating effort in humans? Our ongoing research addresses each of these challenges and has the potential to yield critical insight into the basic neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying variability in human aggressive, competitive, and mating behaviours. The measurement of testosterone concentrations is critically important to our program of research. Unfortunately, during the past year, two important pieces of equipment used for performing hormone immunoassays have outlived their useful lifespans and require immediate replacement. These pieces of equipment are absolutely essential our program of research as we require the ability to accurately estimate variability in salivary and serum testosterone concentrations in order to effectively addressed the research questions proposed in my NSERC Discovery Grant.  Postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduate students in my lab have the ability to learn how to analyze steroid hormones using both EIA and LC-QTOF approaches. These unique opportunities prepare them for careers in academia or industry (e.g., pharmaceuticals, commercial labs)