BANDIT on Facebook!

If you haven't already, please come join us on Facebook! I have teamed with an amazing cohort of biological anthropologists (Kate Clancy, Robin Nelson, Katie Hinde, Katie MacKinnon, and Elizabeth Quinn) to grow BANDIT in new and exciting ways outside the constraint of a regular blog. I will continue to post original content here, including guest posts on a variety of subjects, but the FB page is a more nimble tool for up-to-date postings and discussions. Check it out, and "like" us!

Mammals Suck, literally...

Kudos to Dr. Katie Hinde (Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard) for her wonderful new blog, Mammals Suck...Milk!. Katie says: "My goal for this blog is to showcase new research in milk science (so please send me announcements of your papers when they are published), synthesize emerging results into short science pieces, and to announce symposia and conferences of interest to folks studying mother's milk (or father's milk in the case of dyak fruit bats)."

I'm so excited to see many of us building these virtual research communities. Anthropologists are drawn to connections and boundary-crossing by nature, and blogs like BANDIT, Context and Variation, Neuroanthropology, and now Mammals Suck...Milk! are wonderful vehicles for that interdisciplinary endeavor.

Katie Hinde and Lauren Milligan are awesome!

Hurry for Dr. Katie Hinde (University of California Davis) and Dr. Lauren Milligan (University of California Berkeley! Their new article in Evolutionary Anthropology, titled "Primate milk: Proximate mechanisms and ultimate perspectives" is a brilliant review of lactation and milk synthesis in the primates, setting a new bar for evolutionarily driven milk research and exploration of the role of early life nutritional environments in the evolution of life histories. Elegant!

Abstract:
To understand the evolutionary forces that have shaped primate lactation strategies, it is important to understand the proximate mechanisms of milk synthesis and their ecological and phylogenetic contexts. The lactation strategy of a species has four interrelated dimensions: the frequency and duration of nursing bouts, the period of lactation until weaning, the number and sex ratio of infants that a mother rears simultaneously, and the composition and yield of the milk that mothers synthesize. Milk synthesis, arguably the most physiologically costly component of rearing infants, remains the least studied. Energy transfer becomes energetically less efficient, transitioning from placental support to milk synthesis1, 2 just as the energy requirements for infant growth, development, and behavioral activity substantially increase. Here we review primate lactation biology and milk synthesis, integrating studies from anthropology, biology, nutrition, animal science, immunology, and biochemistry, to identify the derived and ancestral features of primate milks and enhance our understanding of primate life history.

Katie Hinde and Erin Sullivan are both awesome!

A recent Nature Outlook commentary summarized some cutting edge research in milk composition and lactational programming. Though not mentioned by name, the work of Drs. Katie Hinde and Erin Sullivan is highlighted:
"In rhesus macaques, sons drink milk with a higher concentration of cortisol, a hormone that modulates metabolism, even though their mothers have no more cortisol circulating in their blood than when nursing a daughter. It is unclear whether this cortisol-related sex difference has a function. But there are clues: young male macaques that consume milk containing high levels of the hormone develop bold behaviour, whereas cortisol in milk appears to have no influence on female macaque infants. Whether this has a parallel in humans is yet to be determined."

Dr. Hinde also recently published a paper (early view at Journal of Medical Primatology) with Dr. Lin Tao, a colleague of mine at the College of Dentistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago: Species diversity and relative abundance of lactic acid bacteria in the milk of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

Cortisol concentrations in milk predict temperament in offspring!

There is some tremendously exciting work being done lately on programming elements of milk: early life influences on milk composition, effects of milk composition on development, etc. Here's yet another fascinating study, co-authored by BANDIT members Erin Sullivan and Katie Hinde along with Sally Mendoza and John Capitanio, all of the University of California at Davis: Cortisol concentrations in the milk of rhesus monkey mothers are associated with confident temperament in sons, but not daughters

Abstract
One pathway by which infant mammals gain information about their environment is through ingestion of milk. We assessed the relationship between stress-induced cortisol concentrations in milk, maternal and offspring plasma, and offspring temperament in rhesus monkeys. Milk was collected from mothers after a brief separation from their infants at 3–4 months postpartum, and blood was drawn at this time for both mothers and infants. Offspring temperament was measured at the end of a 25-hr assessment. Cortisol concentrations in milk were in a range comparable to those found in saliva, and were positively correlated with maternal plasma levels. Mothers of males had higher cortisol concentrations in milk than did mothers of females, and cortisol concentrations in maternal milk were related to a Confident temperament factor in sons, but not daughters. This study provides the first evidence that naturally occurring variation in endogenous glucocorticoid concentrations in milk are associated with infant temperament.

Making a dent

Thanks to Katie Hinde via Mike Jarcho (both from UC Davis) for sending me a simple pictorial guide for those trying to explain to their friends and family (and self?)what the hell is the point of a Ph.D.

How to Get an Academic Job

Dr. Katie Hinde of the University of California at Davis organized a very successful lunchtime workshop for students and new investigators at ASP. The subject was how to get an academic job after finishing the PhD, with emphases on postdocs and tenure-track professorships. Two of the panel members (Paul Garber and Dorothy Cheney)had much experience as members of search committees and one of their key points was that ABD's and newly-minted PhD's have not yet come to a full realization of the significance of their dissertation research, making it difficult for them to sell to search committees where they plan to go in the future. Search committees might be initially seduced by your kickass dissertation research, but ultimately they want to know if will you be a good colleague in the FUTURE. So, what are your plans in the short- AND long-term? How do you plan on building your current project into a research program or how do you see it forming a foundation for your teaching and mentorship? You won't be granted tenure on your dissertation work alone, so it's never too early to at least practice taking a few steps back and framing your dissertation work in a larger context.

Katie put together some great tips and resources for the job search, and with a new season getting ready to gear up in the fall, take this time to start preparing and educating yourself.

American Society of Primatologists 2010 - happening NOW!

Hi BANDITs! I'm at the American Society of Primatologists meeting in Louisville, having a grand time. Lots of great papers and participation from the BANDITs: Magdalena Muchlinski, me, Katie Hinde, Cory Ross, Jessica Satkoski Trask, and other new investigators who are also new to bandit: Mike Jarcho, Adam Smith, Drew Birnie, Amanda Dettmer, and many, many others (let me know if I left you out!). Katie (incoming chair of the Education Committee) hosted a really great luncheon for students on the do's and don'ts of the academic job search. I was a panelist along with Paul Garber, Dorothy Cheney, Tom Gillespie, Dee Higley, and Charlie Nunn. Nice job, Katie!

My goal for the summer months is to put up at least one post per week, but, well, you know.

BANDIT member Dr. Katie Hinde in American Journal of Primatology

Dr. Katie Hinde, currently a postdoc at the California National Primate Research Center and the University of California Davis has a paper out in AJP today. In addition to her impressive moves on the dance floor, Katie is doing some fabulous work on the role of lactation and milk composition in intergenerational programming of temperament in macaques. She's that cool.