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Transforming the understanding and treatment of mental illness through research DIVISION OF INTRAMURAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS

Principal Investigators Jacqueline N. Crawley, Ph.D.   Dr. Crawley is Chief of the Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience of the Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. She received a B.A. in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971, and a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Maryland in 1976. Postdoctoral research in neuropsychopharmacology was conducted at Yale University School of Medicine. She is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University. She is the recipient of many honors and awards, including President of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society, Mathilde Solowey Lecture Award in Neuroscience, Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute Preceptor Award, Society for Neuroscience Membership Committee Chairmanship Award, Fleur Strand Summer Neuropeptide Conference Award, International Behavioral Neuroscience Society Marjorie A. Myers Lifetime Achievement Award, the Autism Awareness Day Keynote Award, and President of the International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Neuropeptides and serves on the editorial boards of twelve scientific journals. She is the author of the widely used book What′s Wrong With My Mouse? Behavioral Phenotyping of Transgenic and Knockout Mice. Research Interests Dr. Crawley’s laboratory generates new rodent behavioral tasks and applies emerging technologies to investigate genes regulating complex behavioral traits. Employing a comprehensive range of behavioral tests and control parameters, Dr. Crawley’s research team developed a three-tiered strategy for mouse behavioral phenotyping, that is now routinely applied to investigations of mutant mice by the international biomedical research community. Mutant mouse models of human genetic diseases, including autism, Alzheimer's, cognitive decline, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tay-Sachs, Sandhoff’s, Lowe syndrome, Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, ataxia telangiectasia, epilepsy, and obesity have been characterized for behavioral phenotypes with conceptual analogies to the human symptoms. To test hypotheses about the causes of autism spectrum disorders, mouse behavioral assays with face validity to the diagnostic symptoms of autism are being developed, including social approach, reciprocal social interaction, juvenile play, auditory and olfactory communication, motor stereotypies, repetitive and perseverative behaviors, and resistance to change in routine. Applying this approach, an obscure inbred strain of mice, BTBR T+tf/J, was discovered to display social deficits, communication abnormalities, and repetitive self-grooming, relevant to the three core symptoms of autism. Transgenic knockout, and knockin mice with targeted mutations in candidate neurodevelopmental genes for autism, including neuroligins and shanks, are currently being analyzed, to investigate the biological mechanisms underlying autism spectrum disorders. Robust behavioral phenotypes in optimized mouse models are being employed as translational tools to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of novel treatments for autism spectrum disorders. Representative Selected Recent Publications: Yang M, Clarke A, Crawley JN: Postnatal lesion evidence against a primary role for the corpus callosum in mouse sociability. European Journal of Neuroscience, 29: 1663-1677, 2009. (View PDF) Scattoni ML, Gandhy SU, Ricceri L, Crawley JN: Unusual repertoire of vocalizations in the BTBR T+tf/J mouse model of autism. PLoS ONE, 3(8): e3067, 2008. (View PDF) Chadman KK, Gong S, Scattoni ML, Boltuck SE, Gandhy S, Heintz N, Crawley JN: Minimal aberrant behavioral phenotypes of neuroligin-3 R451C knockin mice. Autism Research, 1: 147-158, 2008. (View PDF) McFarlane HG, Kusek GK, Yang M, Phoenix JL, Bolivar VJ, Crawley JN: Autism-like behavioral phenotypes in BTBR T+tf/J mice. Genes, Brain and Behavior, 152-163, 2008. (View PDF) Crawley JN: Testing hypotheses about autism. Science, 318: 56-57, 2007. (View PDF) Crawley JN: What's Wrong With My Mouse? Behaviorial Phenotyping of Transgenic and Knockout Mice, Second Edition John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 2000. Address: Jacqueline N. Crawley, Ph.D. Chief, Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience National Institute of Mental Health Porter Neuroscience Research Center Building 35 Room 1C-903 Bethesda, MD 20892-3730 Phone: 301-496-7855 Email Dr. Crawley Fax: 301-480-4630 Lab Web Site: http://intramural.nimh.nih.gov/lbn/index.htm     Principal Investigators Scientists & Clinicians DIRP Labs and Branches DIRP Research Areas Staff Scientists/Clinicians Office of the Scientific Director Site Map Participate in Research Contact Us Careers in Research What’s New Functional MRI Core Magnetic Resonance Core Magnetoencephalography Core Microarray Core Non-Human Primate Core Scientific and Statistical Computing Core Transgenic Core Veterinary Medicine Resources (Staff only) Office of the Scientific Director Office of the Clinical Director Office of Fellowship Training Office of Technology Transfer Administrative Services Branch Administrative Services

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The Division of Intramural Research Programs is within the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is a part the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.