Principal Investigators and Program Directors

Select Publications

• Bryant, C.D., Parker, C.C., Zhou, L., Olker, C., Chandrasekaran, R.Y., Wager, T.T., Bolivar, V.J., Loudon, A.S., Vitaterna, M.H., Turek, F.W., Palmer, A.A. (in press). Csnk1e is a genetic regulator of sensitivity to psychostimulants and opioids. Neuropsychopharmacology.
• Pearson, B.L., Defensor, E.B., Pobbe, R.L.H., Yamamoto, L.H.L., Bolivar, V.J., Blanchard, D.C, & Blanchard, R.J. (in press) MeCP2 truncation in male mice promotes affiliative social behavior. Behav Genet.
• Pobbe, R.L.H., Pearson, B.L., Defensor, E.B., Bolivar, V.J., Young, W. S., Blanchard, D.C, & Blanchard, R.J. (in press). Oxytocin receptor knockout mice display deficits in the expression of autism-related behaviors. Horm Behav.
• Defensor, E.B., Pearson, B.L., Pobbe, R.L.H., Bolivar, V.J., Blanchard, D.C., Blanchard, R.J. (2011) A novel social proximity test suggests patterns of social avoidance and gaze aversion-like behavior in BTBR T+ tf/J mice. Behav Brain Res, 217, 302-308.
• Pearson, B.L., Pobbe, R.L.H, Defensor, E.B., Oasey, L., Bolivar, V.J., Blanchard, D.C., Blanchard, R.J. (2011) Motor and cognitive stereotypies in the BTBR T+ tf/J mouse model of autism. Genes Brain & Behav, 10, 228-235.
• Eisener-Dorman, A.F., Lawrence, D.A., and Bolivar, V.J. (2010) Behavioral and genetic investigations of low exploratory behavior in ll18r1-/- mice: We can’t always blame it on the targeted gene. Brain Behav. Immun. 24:1116-1125.
• Pobbe, R.L.H, Defensor, E.B., Pearson, B., Bolivar, V.J., Blanchard, D.C., and Blanchard, R.J. (2010) General and social anxiety in the BTBR T+ tf/J mouse strain. Behav. Brain Res. 216:446-451.
• Pobbe, R.L.H, Pearson, B.L, Defensor, E.B., Bolivar, V.J., Blanchard, D.C., and Blanchard, R.J. (2010) Expression of social behaviors of C57BL/6J versus BTBR inbred mouse strains in the visible burrow system. Behav. Brain Res. 214:443-449.
• Halladay, A., Amaral, D., Aschner, M., Bolivar, V.J., Bowman, B., DiCicco-Bloom, E., Hyman, S.L., Keller, F., Lein, P., Pessah, I., Restifo, L., and Threadgill, D.W. (2009) Animal models of autism spectrum disorders: Information for neurotoxicologists. Neurotoxicology 30:811-821.
• Bolivar, V.J. (2009) Intrasession and intersession habituation in mice: From inbred strain variability to linkage analysis. Neurobiol. Learn Mem. 92: 206-214.
• Eisener-Dorman, A.F., Lawrence, D.A., and Bolivar, V.J. (2009) Cautionary insights on knockout mouse studies: The gene or not the gene? Brain Behav. Immun. 23:318-324.
• McFarlane, H.G., Kusek, G.K., Yang, M., Phoenix, J.L., Bolivar, V.J., and Crawley, J.N. (2008) Autism-like behavioral phenotypes in BTBR T+ tf/J mice. Genes Brain Behav. 7:152-163.
• Kusek, G., Wahlsten, D., Herron, B.J., Bolivar, V.J., and Flaherty, L. (2007) Localization of two new X-linked quantitative trait loci controlling corpus callosum size in the mouse. Genes Brain Behav. 6:359-363.
• Bolivar, V.J., Walters, S., and Phoenix, J.L. (2007) Assessing autism-like behavior in mice: Variations in social interactions among inbred strains. Behav. Brain Res. 176:21-26.
• Leussis, M.P. and Bolivar, V.J. (2006) Habituation in rodents: A review of behavior, neurobiology, and genetics. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 30:1045-1064.
• Rodrigues de Ledesma, A.M., Desai, A., Bolivar, V.J., Symula, D.J., and Flaherty, L. (2006) Two new behavioral QTLs, Emo4 and Reb1, mapping to mouse Chromosome 1. Congenic strains and candidate gene identification studies. Mamm. Genome 17:111-118.
• Bothe, G.W.M., Bolivar, V.J., Vedder, M.J., and Geistfeld, J.G. (2005) Behavioral differences among fourteen inbred mouse strains commonly used as disease models. Comp. Med. 55:327-334.

Contact Information

E-mail: bolivar@wadsworth.org

Key Words: autism, complex behavior, quantitative trait loci, spatial memory