Background
I attended Boston University in the late 90's and received a BA in Biology with a Specialization in Neuroscience in 2001. While at BU I worked as a research assistant in the lab of Dr. Richard Pillard who studies the behavioral genetics of sexual orientation, and then as a research assistant in the lab of Dr. Mary Erksine who studies the neuroendocrine control of female reproductive behavior with a focus on memory and brain plasticity. After graduation I was as a research technician at the Center for Morphometric Analysis at Massachusetts General Hospital, where I provided technical assistance in the analysis of brain morphology in humans and monkeys. My interest in the neural basis of sexual behavior and the use of magnetic resonance imaging technologies was fostered in these labs, and I came to realize there were a great many questions left to be answered in both humans and animal models with respect to how and why sexual behaviors are produced.
I came to Georgia State University in 2004 and joined the lab of Dr. Murphy and the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, where I continue her work in understanding the supraspinal control of genital reflexes. My contributions to this work include expanding the analysis to address female sexual behavior. My first project was to comprehensively characterize the location, number, sex steroid sensitivity, and activation during sex of afferents to a brainstem region known to produce tonic inhibition of genital reflexes; the nucleus paragigantocellularis (nPGi). I am now working on identifying the role of the nPGi in female sexual behavior. Future work will characterize serotonergic neurotransmission at the nPGi, and its role in sexual behavior. This work furthers our understanding of how the brain is involved in the production of sexual behavior, and has direct implications for the understanding and treatment of sexual dysfunctions.
 I plan to pursue an academic career in Neuroscience focusing on the neural basis of sexual behavior. I am particularly interested in bringing reductionist hypothesis-based methods to studying human sexuality using magnetic resonance imaging technologies, biophysical testing, as well as molecular biological techniques. This will allow a leap in our understanding of human sexuality beyond what traditional psychological methods have so far produced. I also believe that the development of an animal model for how sexual behavior influences decision making is important, as risky sexual behavior in humans has huge implications for public health and quality of life experiences. Lastly, continued basic research into brain mechanisms of motivated behaviors, including sexual behavior, are important to inform both of the theoretical concerns above, and I plan to pursue such research throughout my career.
Picture Caption: Photomicrograph of the paraventricular nucleus of a male (A and C) and female (B and D) rat. The retrograde tracer Flurogold (FG) was injcted into the nuclesu paragigantocellularis of male and female rats. Brown-stained cells are FG+ and therefor project to the nPGi. Black-stained nuclei conting sexual behavior-induced Fos. Note the males and females have similar numbers of FG+ cells and that these cells co-localize with sexual behavior-induced Fos in both sexes.
Awards and Honors
Center for Behavioral Neuroscience Graduate Scholar (2004-present)
Atlanta Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience Poster Award (2006)
President, GSU Neurobiology Graduate Student Association (2007)
Selected Publications
Normandin, J.J., Murphy, A.Z. Nucleus paragigantocellularis afferents in male and female rats: organization, gonadal steroid sensitivity, and activation during sexual behavior. Journal of Comparative Neurology, in press .
Recent Poster Presentations
SfN 2007 - Feeling Good in the Neighborhood: Trans-Synaptic Tracing of Genitosensory Afferents in Male and Female Rats
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