• PhD, University of California - Berkeley

What drives us to be social?  Why do we (and many other animals) seek out others and gain comfort from these social interactions?  Research in my laboratory uses animal models (rats and hamsters) to understand how hormones, the brain, and the environment shape social and emotional behavior across the juvenile and adolescent phases, with particular attention to how these factors may differentially impact males and females. 

• Forrester-Fronstin Z, Barret AR, Mondschein AS, Johnson JM, Cordes CN, Lawton-Stone T, Schatz KC, and Paul MJ (2025). Estradiol decreases anxiety-like behavior of male and female juvenile Siberian hamsters in a dose-dependent manner. Hormones and Behavior 167:105674. DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2024.105674
• Cordes CN, Fredericks CP, Liu L, Brakey DJ, Daniels D, and Paul MJ (2024). Altered social communication in vasopressin-deficient Brattleboro rats. Physiology & Behavior 287:114699. DOI 10.1016/j.physbeh.2024.114699
• Hoops D, Kyne RF, Salameh S, Ewing E, He A, Orsini T, Durand A, Popescu C, Zhao JM, Schatz KC, Li L, Carroll QE, Liu G, Paul MJ, and Flores C (2024). The scheduling of adolescence with Netrin-1 and UNC5C. eLife 12:RP88261. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.88261.4
• Kinley BL, Kyne RF, Lawton-Stone TS, Walker DM, and Paul MJ (2021). Long-term consequences of peri-adolescent social isolation on social preference, anxiety-like behaviour, and vasopressin neural circuitry of male and female rats. European Journal of Neuroscience 54(11):7790-7804. DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15520
• Charlton P, Schatz KC, Burke K, Paul MJ, and Dent ML (2019). Sex differences in auditory brainstem response audiograms from vasopressin-deficient Brattleboro and wild-type Long Evans rats. PLoS One 14(8):e0222096. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222096
• Kyne RF, Barrett AR, Brown LM, and Paul MJ (2019). Prepubertal ovarian inhibition of Light/Dark Box exploration and novel object investigation in juvenile Siberian hamsters. Hormones and Behavior 115:article number 104559. DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2019.07.007
• Schatz KC, Brown LM, Barrett AR, Roth LC, Grinevich V, and Paul MJ (2019). Viral rescue of magnocellular vasopressin cells in adolescent Brattleboro rats ameliorates diabetes insipidus, but not the hypoaroused phenotype. Scientific Reports 9:article number 8243. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-44776-1
• Schatz KC, Martin CD, Ishiwari K, George AM, Richards JB, and Paul MJ (2019). Mutation in the vasopressin gene eliminates the sex difference in social reinforcement in adolescent rats. Physiology & Behavior 206:125-133. DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.04.004
• Schatz KC, Kyne RF, Parmeter SL, and Paul MJ (2018). Investigation of social, affective, and locomotor behavior of adolescent Brattleboro rats reveals a link between vasopressin’s actions on arousal and social behavior. Hormones and Behavior 106:1-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.08.015
• Paul MJ, Probst CK, Brown LM, and De Vries GJ (2018). Dissociation of puberty and adolescent social development in a seasonally breeding species. Current Biology 28(7):1116-1123. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.02.030.
• Walker DM, Bell MR, Flores C, Gulley JM, Willing J, and Paul MJ (2017). Adolescence and reward: Making sense of neural and behavioral changes amid the chaos. Journal of Neuroscience 37:10855-10866. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1834-17.2017
• Paul MJ, Peters NV, Holder MK, Kim AM, Whylings J, Terranova JI, and De Vries GJ (2016). Atypical social development in vasopressin-deficient Brattleboro rats. eNeuro 3(2):ENEURO.0150-15.2016. DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0150-15.2016
• Paul MJ, Terranova JI, Probst CK, Peters NV, Murray EK, Ismail NI, Kim AM, Shah CR, and De Vries GJ (2014). Sexually dimorphic role for vasopressin in the development of social play behavior. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 8:article number 5. DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00058
• De Vries GJ, Fields CT, Peters NV, Whylings J, and Paul MJ (2014). Sensitive periods for hormonal programming of the brain. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences 16:79-108. DOI: 10.1007/7854_2014_286