Catherine G. Dulac

Dr. Catherine Dulac is the Higgins Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University and an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dulac investigates the molecular logic of olfactory signaling underlying the coding of odorant- and pheromone-mediated signals in mammals. Over the course of her career, she has identified essential signaling components of the mammal vomeronasal organ (VSO) – the organ used to detect pheromones in mammals – including novel multigene families encoding as many as 400 different candidate pheromone receptors.  Dulac has also used molecular and genetic tools to analyze the coding of pheromone signals in the mammalian brain and the specificity of the pheromone response leading to gender discrimination and aggression. The Dulac lab currently works with mammal and Caenorhabditis elegans models to understand the function of different classes of VNO sensory neurons, to discern the molecular and functional significance of pheromone receptor organization, and to understand the role between pheromone detection and behavior. Dulac has received numerous awards for her research including the Richard Lounsbery Award, the NIH Public Health Service Award, a Searle Scholar Award, and the Perl/University of North Carolina Neuroscience Prize. Her publications appear in Cell, Nature, and Science, and numerous other highly respected journals.