Dr. Alex Ophir in the OSU Department of Zoology, has been awarded a research grant for $349,175 from the Eunice Kennedy Schriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health. The primary goal of this research is to understand the neurobiology of monogamy and social behavior in prairie voles, a rodent found throughout the Midwest USA. Prairie voles, like humans, are monogamous animals that form long-term pairbonds and exhibit behaviors that appear very similar to those that we humans might call ‘love’ for both a mate and for offspring. This series of studies will examine how hormones in the brain regulate social affiliation, parental care (primarily from the father), territorial behavior, and memory. We will specifically investigate the control of a particular hormone, vasopressin, in brain areas known to influence pairbonding and ask how the brain functions to maintain monogamous bonds, and promote child care from fathers. We will also ask what influence paternal care has on offspring brain and behavior development. This research will provide a better understanding of what controls monogamy and offspring care by fathers. It may also help understand the behavioral consequences on developing young that have either good or bad fathers. Ultimately, these studies could contribute to understanding the causes of dysfunction in social attachment, such as autism or parent-infant bonding.