Department of Psychology and Neuroscience

Tamara Franklin

Associate Professor

Franklin headshot

Research Website

Department of Psychology and Neuroscience

Email: Tamara.Franklin@dal.ca
Phone: 902-494-2923
Fax: 902-494-6585
Mailing Address: 
Dalhousie University, Life Sciences Centre, 1355 Oxford Street, P.O. Box 15000, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2
 
Research Topics:
  • Neuroscience
  • Epigenetics
  • In vivo electrophysiology
  • Animal behaviour
  • Neuroconnectivity
  • Sociability

 

Education

BSc (University of King’s College)
MSc (Dalhousie University)
PhD (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ))

Research Interests

I would like to understand the brain functions required to engage in normal peer-to-peer social interactions. For this, my laboratory uses a combination of epigenetic and neuroconnectivity approaches to (1) identify neural circuits required for appropriate social engagement, and (2) understand how epigenetic regulation affects functional connectivity within these circuits. Our research is relevant for social-related disorders like autism spectrum disorder and social anxiety disorder.

Selected Publications

  • Torres Muñoz P, Franklin TB (2022). The anxiogenic effects of adolescent psychological stress in male and female mice. Behavioural Brain Research.  432, 113963. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2022.113963
  • Kosel F, Hamilton J, Harrison S, Godin V, Franklin TB (2021). Reduced social investigation and increased injurious behaviour in transgenic 5xFAD mice. Journal of Neuroscience Research. 99, 209-22. doi:10.1002/jnr.24578. Associated Published Dataset: “5xFAD mice in their home-cage, the three-chamber sociability test and free social interaction task” https://dx.doi.org/10.20383/101.0171
  • Kosel, F, Pelley, JMS, Franklin, TB (2020). Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 112: 634-47. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.02.012.
  • Wheeler RV, Franklin TB (2019). The importance of the epigenome for social-related neural circuits. Epigenomics. 11, 1557-1560. doi: 10.2217/epi-2019-0255.
  • Kosel F, Torres Munoz P, Yang JR, Wong AA, Franklin, TB (2019). Age-related changes in social behaviours in the 5xFAD mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. Behavioural Brain Research. 362, 160-72. Doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.01.029.  Associated Published Dataset: "Social behaviours in the 5xFAD mouse" https://dx.doi.org/10.20383/101.0126.
  • van Steenwyk G, Roszkowski M, Manuella F, Franklin TB, Mansuy IM (2018). Transgenerational inheritance of behavioral and metabolic effects of traumatic experiences in early postnatal life in mice: Evidence in the 4th generation. Environmental Epigenetics. 4,  dvy023. Doi: 10.1093/eep/dvy023.
  • Franklin TB, Silva BA, Perova Z, Marrone L, Masferrer ME, Zhan Y, Kaplan A, Greetham L, Verrechia V, Halman A, Pagella S, Vyssotski AL, Illarionova A, Grinevich V, Branco T, Gross CT (2017). Prefrontal cortical control of a brainstem social behavior circuit. Nature Neuroscience. 20, 260-70.  Doi: 10.1038/nn.4470. 

Teaching

NESC/PSYO 3161 Measuring Behaviour
NESC 4007 Contemporary Issues in Neuroscience