OBERLIN ON-LINE, April 7, 2003
Daniel Staub ’03 Studies Sex Hormones, Learning, and Memory
by Sue Angell
 Daniel Staub '03 and Jan Thornton |
APRIL 7, 2003--Tucked inside the part of the brain that lies beneath the temporal lobes, the relatively tiny hippocampus and the chemical messenger acetylcholine (Ach) play a vital role in the processes of learning and memory. But hormones, particularly sex hormones like androgen and estrogen, can affect the function of the hippocampus.
Daniel Staub '03 has been interested in these processes since he took Hormones, Brain, and Behavior with Associate Professor of Neuroscience Jan Thornton. The hormonal aspect of the puzzle intrigued Staub.
"After the first class, I was hooked," Staub says. "I knew that this was the area I wanted to focus on and study in depth."
Thornton introduced Staub to the research of Bruce McEwen '59, a neuroscientist and professor at Rockefeller University who has been studying the effects of hormones on the brain for several decades. Intrigued by McEwen's work, Staub e-mailed the scientist to ask if a summer internship was available. Because of his links to Oberlin, McEwen opened up a position for Staub in his lab.
"Dan has a great sense of humor and works extremely well as part of a team, while at the same time being an individual and contributing to our work," says McEwen. "It has been a pleasure working with him."
Staub's experience working under McEwen further fueled his interest, and after returning to Oberlin he developed an honors project that would take his research to the next level.
"Previous research has shown that androgens are needed in males for the hippocampus to aid in normal learning and memory processes. Dan's project involves discovering how androgens affect the hippocampus," Thornton says. "We know that androgens do something, but we need to figure out what that something is."
Staub suspects that androgens exert their effects by increasing the acetylcholine that stimulates the hippocampus. In his research, he is testing the levels of this chemical in laboratory rats that have been given controlled doses of androgen. After 48 hours, Staub tests the rats for the presence of cholinacetyltransferace (ChAT), an enzyme that synthesizes acetylcholine, If the rats' ChAT levels have increased, this will indicate that their Ach levels increased.
"An elevated ChAT level would fit with data collected by researchers who have run similar experiments with the female hormone estrogen," says Staub. "This would mean that androgen appears to affect the hippocampus in the same way as estrogen, and might potentially have practical applications in the study of Alzheimer's disease or memory loss and aging."
Although Staub's research is far from complete, he has been offered a position at Bristol University in England as a research assistant. Not one to miss out on a good opportunity, however, Staub has also applied for a position at Rockefeller University, working in McEwen's lab.
"Danny will make an excellent scientist," Thornton says. "He's careful and thorough, a real asset in the lab."
For his part, Staub isn't sure what the future holds.
"I don't know if I want to go to graduate school right away," he says. "I'd like to get some more experience in the lab to see if I really like doing research. If I find out that I do like it, I'll probably go to graduate school in neuroscience. But if I don't, maybe I'll continue studying the brain in medical school and become a neurosurgeon."