Professor Barry Keverne ScD FRS FMedSci - Behavioural Neuroscience

+44 (0)1223 741816
ebk10@cam.ac.uk

Research
Behavioural neuroscience and brain evolution.

After a longstanding career in behavioural neuroscience, I have now officially retired. However, I will continue with research until current grants terminate and then I will possibly continue to teach and write, but not undertake further research or take on PhD students. My interests are now developing in the area of mammalian brain evolution and behaviour and the importance of genomic imprinting in this context. Imprinted genes are epigenetically modified to provide expression according to parent-of-origin. Epigenetics has, I believe, played a significant role in brain development and evolution, and the larger the brain the longer it takes to develop post-natally and the more it is subject to environmental influences that affects its development. A focus interest is on selection pressures operating through the matriline in this context.

Grants held
Leverhulme Trust Award, 2001-2011(Joint with P. Bateson, R. Foley and M. Lahr) - Evolution, post genomics and contextual biology.

Selected Publications

Curley, J.P. & Keverne, E.B. (2005). Genes, brains and mammalian social bonds. Trends Ecol. Evol. 20: 561-567.

Curley, J.P., Pinnock, S.B., Dickson, S.L., Thresher, R., Miyoshi, N., Surani, M.A. & Keverne E.B. (2005). Increased body fat in mice with a targeted mutation of the paternally expressed imprinted gene Peg3. FASEB J. 19: 1302-1304.

Keverne, E.B. (2005). Odor here, odor there: chemosensation and reproductive function. Nat. Neurosci. 8: 1637-1638.

Almond, R.A.E., Brown,G.R. & Keverne, E.B. (2006). Suppression of prolactin does not reduce infant care by paternally experienced male common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus). Horm. Behav. 49: 673-680.

Broad, K.D., Curley, J.P. & Keverne, E.B. (2006). Mother-infant bonding and the evolution of mammalian social relationships. Phil. Trans, Roy. Soc. B. 361: 2199-2214.

Xia, J., Sellers, L.A., Oxley, D., Smith, T., Emson, P. & Keverne, E.B. (2006). Urinary pheromones promote ERK/Akt phospohorylation, regeneration and survival of vomeronasal (V2R) neurons. Eur. J. Neurosci. 24: 3333-3342.

Keverne, E.B. (2007). The significance of genomic imprinting for brain development and behavior. Nutrition and Health 19: 107-108.

Swaney, W.T., Curley, J.P., Champagne, F.A. & Keverne, E.B. (2007). Genomic imprinting mediates sexual experience-dependent olfactory learning in male mice. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 6084-6089.

Champagne, F.A., Curley, J.P., Keverne, E.B. & Bateson, P.P.G. (2007). Natural variations in postpartum maternal care in inbred and outbred mice. Physiol Behav. 91: 325-334.

Keverne, E.B. (2007). Genomic imprinting and the evolution of sex differences in mammalian reproductive strategies. Adv. Genet. 59: 217-244.

Broad K.D. & Keverne, E.B. (2008). More to pheromones than meets the nose. Nat. Neurosci. 11: 128-129.

Keverne, E.B. & Curley, J.P. (2008). Epigenetics, brain evolution and behavior. Front. Neuroendocrinol. 29: 398-412.

Keverne, E.B. (2008). Visualisation of the vomeronasal pheromone response system. BioEssays 30: 802-805.

Curley, J.P., Champagne, F.A., Bateson, P. & Keverne, E.B. (2008). Transgenerational effects of impaired maternal care on behaviour of offspring and grandoffspring. Anim. Behav. 75: 1551-1561.

Broad, K.D., Curley, J.P. & Keverne, E.B. (2009). Increased apoptosis during neonatal brain development underlies the adult behavioral deficits seen in mice lacking a functional paternally expressed gene 3 (Peg3). Dev. Neurobiol. 69: 314-325..

Champage, F.A., Curley, J.P., Swaney, W.T., Hasen, N.S. & Keverne, E.B. (2009). Paternal influence on female behavior: The role of Peg3 in exploration, olfaction and neuroendocrine regulation of maternal behavior of female mice. Behav. Neurosci. 123: 469-480.

Swaney, W.T. & Keverne, E.B. (2009). The evolution of pheromonal communication. Behav. Brain Res. 200: 239-247.

Keverne, E.B. (2009). Monoallelic gene expression and mammalian evolution. BioEssays 31: 1318-1326.

Keverne, E.B. (2010). A mine of imprinted genes. Nature 466: 823-824.

Keverne, E.B. (2010). Epigenetically regulated imprinted genes and foetal programming. Neurotox Res. 18: 386-392.

Curley, J.P., Rock, V., Moynihan, A., Bateson, P. & Keverne, E.B. (2010). Developmental shifts in the behavioural phenotypes of inbred mice: the role of postnatal and juvenile social experiences. Behav. Genet. 40: 220-232.

Xia, J., Broad, K.D. Emson, P.C. & Keverne, E.B. (2010). Epigenetic modification of vomeronasal (V2r) precursor neurons by histone decetylation. Neuroscience 169: 1462-1472.

- Behavioural neuroscience
- Neural mechanisms of learning and memory
- Behavioural inhibition in young children
- Alternative modes of development: plasticity and epigenesis
- Comparative cognition
- Cognition and culture in the wild