Gül Dölen

Gül Dölen is a Turkish-American neuroscientist known for studying social behavior, psychedelic drugs and critical periods.

Gül Dölen
Alma mater
Scientific career
FieldsNeuroscience
Institutions
Websitehttps://neuroscience.jhu.edu/research/faculty/23

As an MD–PhD student at Brown University and later at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dölen studied fragile X syndrome and identified a possible treatment target.[1]

As a postdoctoral fellow under Robert Malenka, Dölen found that the hormones oxytocin and serotonininteract with the brain's nucleus accumbens to produce good feelings from social interactions ("social rewards") in mice.[2]

In 2018, Dölen co-authored a paper that found that octopuses, which are normally anti-social, became more social after exposure to the psychoactive drug MDMA, which acts on a serotonin pathway The research suggests that there is a common genetic basis of social behavior across much of the animal kingdom.[2][3]

Dölen's recent research, published 2019–2023 in the journal Nature, examines the power of psychedelic drugs like MDMA in re-opening the critical period in social reward learning.[4][2]

Selected publications
  • Gül Dölen; Ayeh Darvishzadeh; Kee Wui Huang; Robert C Malenka (1 September 2013). "Social reward requires coordinated activity of nucleus accumbens oxytocin and serotonin". Nature. 501 (7466): 179–184. doi:10.1038/NATURE12518. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 4091761. PMID 24025838. Wikidata Q33881046.
  • Eric Edsinger; Gül Dölen (8 October 2018). "A Conserved Role for Serotonergic Neurotransmission in Mediating Social Behavior in Octopus". Current Biology. 28 (19): 3136-3142.e4. doi:10.1016/J.CUB.2018.07.061. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 30245101. Wikidata Q57294023.
  • Romain Nardou; Eastman M Lewis; Rebecca Rothhaas; Ran Xu; Aimei Yang; Edward Boyden; Gül Dölen (3 April 2019). "Oxytocin-dependent reopening of a social reward learning critical period with MDMA". Nature. 569 (7754): 116–120. doi:10.1038/S41586-019-1075-9. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 30944474. Wikidata Q64941735.
  • Edward Sawyer; Young Jun Song; Mackenzie Wilkinson; et al. (14 June 2023). "Psychedelics reopen the social reward learning critical period". Nature. 618: 790–798. ISSN 1476-4687. Wikidata Q121425859.

See also

References
  1. "In deep water with Gül Dölen". Spectrum | Autism Research News. 3 August 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  2. Nuwer, Rachel (15 June 2023). "The Psychedelic Scientist Who Sends Brains Back to Childhood". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  3. Leventhal, Jamie (20 September 2018). "Scientists gave octopuses some molly. Here's what happened". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  4. "Psychedelic Drug MDMA May Reawaken 'Critical Period' in Brain to Help Treat PTSD". Johns Hopkins Medicine Newsroom. 4 April 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
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