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Center for Developmental Social Neuroscience
About our Center
We study the neurobiological basis of human social relationships, focusing on the brain, hormonal, autonomic, genetic, molecular, microbial, and behavioral components that underpin our capacity to form and maintain affiliative bonds: between parents and children, among couples, between friends, and within social groups. We focus on the neurobiological and psychological ways by which close relationships build brain, bolster mental health, foster immunity, and confer resilience amidst adversity.
Meet our Feldman Lab
The Feldman Lab integrates a developmental social neuroscience unit with a hormonal-molecular unit and a child-and-family community clinic into a multi-disciplinary endeavor. In longitudinal studies of healthy and high-risk families spanning infancy to young adulthood we examine how early relationships and their neurobiology shape humans’ social abilities, stress and affiliation systems, brain maturation, immune functions, and the capacity to form intimate bonds throughout life.
Hormonal and Molecular Biology Lab
Our hormonal and molecular biology lab, directed by Dr. Orna Zagoory-Sharon, is well-equipped to conduct cutting-edge neuroendocrine and molecular biology research. We routinely assess a variety of hormones and immune elements, including oxytocin, vasopressin, cortisol, testosterone, DHEA, DHEAS, prolactin, IL-6, secretoryIgA, salivary alpha amylase, and more measured from multiple fractions (blood, urine, saliva, hair, sweat) in relation to social behavior and developmental psychopathology. We recently branched into molecular biology and research on the gut-microbiome. Our lab provides hormonal assessments to multiple collaborative research across the world.
