Zoe R. Donaldson facts for kids

Zoe R. Donaldson is an American brain scientist and a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. She studies how our brains control social actions and how we form bonds with others. Dr. Donaldson uses small animals called prairie voles to learn about these behaviors. Her work helps us understand why some people might be more likely to develop mental health issues.

Dr. Donaldson is a leader in using prairie voles for her research. These voles are special because they form strong, lasting pairs, much like humans. She has also created new tools to study their genes and brain circuits. This helps her understand how pair bonding works in the brain.

Early Life and Education

Zoe Donaldson grew up in Reno, Nevada. When she was 16, she started college early at Bard College at Simon's Rock. In 2000, she earned her first degree. Then, she went to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for her main college studies.

While at UCLA, Dr. Donaldson traveled to West Africa to study Malaria. She also worked with a mentor, Barney Schlinger. Her research looked at how certain hormones affect how birds act when they are trying to find a mate. She shared her findings at several science meetings.

In 2002, at age 21, Dr. Donaldson finished her science degree. She then went to Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia for her advanced studies. There, she worked with Larry J. Young. She used Prairie Voles to study how social behaviors work in the brain. She focused on how brain chemicals like oxytocin and vasopressin affect these behaviors.

Dr. Donaldson studied how small differences in genes could change vole behavior. She developed new ways to study these genes in voles. Her work showed that a specific gene was important for voles to form strong bonds with a partner.

Dr. Donaldson earned her PhD in brain science in 2009. She then moved to New York City. There, she continued her research at Columbia University with René Hen. She studied how a brain chemical system, called serotonin, affects behavior. She found that changes in this system early in life could lead to more anxiety and less social interaction later on. Her work also linked certain gene differences to a higher risk of mental health problems.

Career and Research

In 2016, Dr. Donaldson became a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She works in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. She is also part of the Center for Neuroscience.

Dr. Donaldson leads her own research group, the Donaldson Lab. Her team uses mice and voles to explore why behaviors differ among individuals. They want to understand how genes or life experiences might make someone more likely to have mental health issues.

Dr. Donaldson especially looks at how social connections affect our mood and behavior. She tries to understand why losing a friend or partner causes pain and sadness in the brain. She uses special tools to watch brain activity. She also creates new genetic tools to study how brain cells work in voles.

Social Buffering

Social buffering is when being with another animal helps reduce stress or fear. Dr. Donaldson studied how activating certain brain cells could lessen fear. She found that if she turned on the brain cells linked to remembering a friend, it helped reduce fear in scary situations. This was like having a friend there to help.

How Pair Bonds Form

Dr. Donaldson is a leader in using voles to study social behavior. She wanted to know how these monogamous voles form their strong pair bonds. She used special imaging to watch brain cells in a part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens.

She found that certain brain cells became active when a vole's partner came near. Over time, more and more cells reacted to the partner. The number of these active cells could even predict how strong the pair bond would become.

Awards and Honors

• 2019 IBANGS Young Scientist Award Edinburgh
• 2018 NIH New Innovator Award Recipient
• 2018 National Science Foundation Edge Award
• 2018 Dana Foundation Award - Grant Mahoney Neuroimaging Program
• 2017 Whitehall Foundation Award
• 2009 Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar
• 2003 HHMI Predoctoral Fellowship