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Douglas Stuart Portman, Ph.D.

Contact Information

Phone Numbers

Administrative: (585) 273-1749

Office: (585) 275-7414

Fax: (585) 276-1947

Faculty Appointments

Biography

Research

Genetic Control of Sex Differences in Neurobiology and Disease

Though the existence of two sexes is a fundamental characteristic of nearly all animal species, the way biological sex brings about sex differences in the brain and behavior is poorly understood. Moreover, susceptibility to a host of human neurological and mental health disorders is strongly influenced by gender, but in most cases the biological bases for these differences remain opaque. Our research uses a simple, experimentally tractable model system--the small soil nematode C. elegans--to shed light on the genetic underpinnings of sex differences in neural development, behavior, and disease susceptibility.

For more information, please visit the lab website at: http://wormweb.urmc.rochester.edu/

Credentials

Education

1988
BA with Honors, | Univ of Pennsylvania
Biochemistry

1995
PhD | Univ of Pennsylvania
Molecular Biology and Genetics

Publications

Journal Articles

4/8/2023
Luo J, Barrios A, Portman DS. "males optimize mate-choice decisions via sex-specific responses to multimodal sensory cues." bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology.. 2023 Apr 8; Epub 2023 Apr 08.

1/19/2023
Burkhardt RN, Artyukhin AB, Aprison EZ, Curtis BJ, Fox BW, Ludewig AH, Palomino DF, Luo J, Chaturbedi A, Panda O, Wrobel CJJ, Baumann V, Portman DS, Lee SS, Ruvinsky I, Schroeder FC. "Sex-specificity of the C. elegans metabolome." Nature communications.. 2023 Jan 19; 14(1):320. Epub 2023 Jan 19.

9/1/2022
Pechuk V, Goldman G, Salzberg Y, Chaubey AH, Bola RA, Hoffman JR, Endreson ML, Miller RM, Reger NJ, Portman DS, Ferkey DM, Schneidman E, Oren-Suissa M. "Reprogramming the topology of the nociceptive circuit in C. elegans reshapes sexual behavior." Current biology : CB.. 2022 Sep 1; Epub 2022 Sep 01.

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