Champagne Lab

Psychobiology & Neuroscience

Dr James P. Curley

I completed my undergraduate degree in Human Sciences at Somerville College, Oxford University in 1999. In 2003 I finished my PhD in Zoology at the Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge under the supervision of Prof. Barry Keverne. I then completed a four year Leverhulme Post-Doctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge working with Prof. Sir Pat Bateson. Between 2005-2007 I was the Charles & Katharine Darwin Research Fellow at Darwin College, University of Cambridge. I am currently an Associate Research Scientist and Lecturer at Columbia University.

Behavioral Development

I am currently researching how variations in social experiences across the entire lifespan influences the development of emotional, cognitive, reproductive and social behaviors and related neurobiological systems. In particular I have looked at how variations in early maternal care using cross-fostering and communal nursing lead to stable individual differences in behavior. More recently, I have published some work that examines the significance of variations in the social environment of weanling and juvenile individuals.

Curley JP, Jensen CL, Mashoodh R & Champagne FA, 2011, Social influences on neurobiology and behavior: Epigenetic effects during development, Psychoneuroendocrinology 36: 352-371.

Curley JP, Jordan E, Swaney WT, Izraelit A, Kammel S & Champagne FA, 2009, The Meaning of Weaning: Influence of the Weaning Period on Behavioral Development in Mice, Developmental Neuroscience 31: 318-331.

Curley JP, Davidson S, Bateson P, & Champagne FA, 2009, Social enrichment during postnatal development induces transgenerational effects on emotional and reproductive behavior in mice, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 3(25): 1-14.

Curley JP, Rock V, Moynihan AM, Bateson P, Keverne EB & Champagne FA, 2010, Developmental shifts in the behavioral phenotypes of inbred mice: The role of postnatal and juvenile social experiences, Behavior Genetics 40: 220-232.

Champagne FA & Curley JP, 2009, Epigenetic mechanisms mediating the long-term effects of maternal care on development, Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 33: 593-600

Trans-generational inheritance of behavior

I am interested in the mechanisms through which mothers and fathers are able to differentially influence the behavioral development of their offspring. I have particularly focused upon 1) trans-generational inheritance of maternal care, 2) genomic imprinting and 3) inheritance via the paternal germline.

Curley JP, Mashoodh R & Champagne FA, 2011, Epigenetics and the origin of paternal effects, Hormones & Behavior 59: 306-314.

Alter MD, Gilani AI, Champagne FA, Curley JP, Turner JB. & Hen R, 2009, Paternal transmission of complex phenotypes in inbred mice. Biological Psychiatry 66: 1061-6.

Curley JP & Mashoodh R, 2010, Parent-of-origin and trans-generational germline influences on behavioral development: the interacting role of mothers, fathers and grandparents, Developmental Psychobiology 52: 312-330.

Curley JP, Champagne FA, Bateson P & Keverne EB, 2008, Transgenerational effects of impaired maternal care on behaviour of offspring and grandoffspring. Animal Behaviour 75: 1551-1561.

The evolution of the mammalian social brain

I have argued that the neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying social bonding in mammals have been built upon those that originally evolved to regulate maternal care and infant attachment. Moreover, during the transition from small-brained animals to larger-brained primates there have been shifts in the sensory modalities regulating social bonding as well as an emancipation from it being under hormonal control to a more cognitive control.

Curley JP, 2011, The mu-opioid receptor and the evolution of mother-infant attachment: Theoretical comment on Higham et al. (2011), Behavioral Neuroscience 125: 273-278.

Keverne EB & Curley JP, 2008, Epigenetics, brain evolution and behaviour, Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology 29: 398-412.

Broad KD, Curley JP & Keverne EB, 2006, Mother-infant bonding and the evolution of mammalian social relationships, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. 361: 2199-2214

Curley JP & Keverne EB, 2005, Genes, Brains and Mammalian Social Bonds, Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20(10): 561-7

Students interested in brain evolution may want to consider taking my seminar course - "Brain Evolution: Becoming Human"

Lab Members

Contact information

Columbia University
Department of Psychology
406 Schermerhorn Hall
1190 Amsterdam Ave
New York
NY 10027

tel:212 854-2490

fax:212 854-3609

email: Dr James Curley