New UW Madison Primate Center Director

Read the UW news release about the new director, Jon E. Levine, here.

Here's an example of the scientific breakthroughs that put him head and shoulders above the rest of the applicants for the position:

Considerable variability exists in the behavior of males towards infants. Approximately 50% of naïve male mice did not attack young, but exhibited parental behavior on their initial exposure. Further investigations are necessary to determine what distinguishes the naïve males that express parental behaviors from those that do not. For example, it is possible that these spontaneously parental mice represent animals that were exposed to a different in utero environment than mice that ignored or attacked young. For the other 50% of naïve males, prior exposure to P[progesterone] in adulthood increases the proportion of males that attack pups rather than ignore them. It will also be informative to follow males for longer after the prolonged P exposure to see if these behaviors persist. If so, then it is possible that P exerts prolonged organizational effects on infant-directed aggression. Additional studies are necessary to determine the mechanism by which P exerts prolonged effects resulting in the increased expression of infant-directed aggression. Effects of progesterone on male-mediated infant-directed aggression. Schneider JS, Burgess C, Horton TH, Levine JE. Behav Brain Res. 2009

This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

What a cruel waste.