Equipment for social neuroendocrinology research

加拿大人报告的暴力事件超过220万起（加拿大统计局，2014年），突出表明攻击行为仍然是加拿大的一个重大社会问题。详细说明潜在的生物学机制，有助于侵略的变化是至关重要的风险因素的发展和表达这种潜在的破坏性行为的全面理解。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等背景因素，并且睾丸激素的这种变化积极地映射到竞争和攻击行为。我们已经开发了新的药理学挑战协议，以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，单剂量的睾酮迅速增加了攻击性，特别是在占主导地位和冲动的男性中，增加了男性对自己面部优势的自我感知，降低了男性在资源竞争中愿意放弃经济资源的程度，并增加了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的急剧上升可能有助于快速微调心理和行为过程的想法是一致的，这些心理和行为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。尽管在我们的理解睾酮在促进竞争和攻击行为的作用的进步，仍然存在几个悬而未决的问题;睾酮对雄激素受体介导的攻击行为的影响？睾丸激素会促进女性的攻击性吗？皮质醇在调节睾酮对人类攻击性的影响中发挥作用吗？睾丸激素在促进人类交配努力方面发挥着更广泛的作用吗？我们正在进行的研究解决了这些挑战中的每一个，并有可能对人类攻击性，竞争性和交配行为的基本神经内分泌机制产生重要的见解。 睾酮浓度的测量对我们的研究计划至关重要。不幸的是，在过去的一年中，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。这些设备对我们的研究计划至关重要，因为我们需要能够准确估计唾液和血清睾酮浓度的变化，以便有效地解决我在NSERC发现资助中提出的研究问题。 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的职业生涯做好了准备（例如，制药、商业实验室）

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)