Bio
Dr. Pablo Chamero received his BSc/MSc from the University of the Basque Country in 1999, and his Ph.D. from the University of Valladolid, Spain in 2005. He joined the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA from 2005 to 2008 as a postdoctoral fellow. It was there that he discovered that major urinary proteins function as aggression pheromones detected by the vomeronasal organ (VNO), while working on mouse aggressive behavior. In 2009 he joined the Department of Physiology at the Saarland University School of Medicine, Homburg (Germany), first as a postdoc and later appointed to a DFG-funded junior group leader, where he remained for nearly 7 years. In 2016, Dr. Chamero moved to the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) in Nouzilly as a tenured researcher (CR). In 2017, he obtained the Habilitation to Direct Research (HDR) grade from the University of Tours. He is a recipient of several Ph.D. and postdoctoral fellowships as well as the Polack Young Investigator Award 2013 (The Ernest Polak Foundation).
Research
My research focuses on the control of social animal behavior in response to sensory input, normally olfactory. In particular, we are interested in how pheromone detection through the VNO lead animals such as the mouse to display social behaviors such as aggression, sexual behaviors, parenting or avoidance to predators. We have identified the behavioral contribution and physiological role of different vomeronasal subsystems, G-protein transduction subunits and ion channels that regulate animal behaviors. Recently, we have expanded our research program to include studying the sensory physiology and behavior of other mammalian species. Our long-term goal is to explain the complete cellular and molecular mechanisms through which different olfactory inputs are received, integrated in the brain, and regulate an animal’s plastic behavioral responses.
