Matthew Taves

I am interested in the interactions between glucocorticoids (steroid stress hormones) and the immune system. These hormones have powerful immunosuppressive effects, which are thought to prevent harmful overshoot of the immune response. Immature lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) are especially vulnerable to glucocorticoids. Paradoxically, it appears that immune organs may produce their own glucocorticoids in early life, when the majority of lymphocyte development is occurring. My research aims to determine if glucocorticoids are locally produced in immune organs, how their production is regulated, and what role they play.

Laboratory and field evidence of sex-biased movement in the invasive round goby
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 65:2239-2249
Marentette JR, Tong S, Wang G, Sopinka NM, Taves MD, Koops M, Balshine S
2011
Measurement of steroid concentrations in the brain: methodological issues and cautionary considerations
Frontiers in Endocrinology. 2:39
Taves MD, Ma C, Heimovics SA, Saldanha CJ, Soma KK
2011
Elevated corticosterone levels in stomach milk, serum, and brain of male and female offspring after maternal corticosterone treatment
Developmental Neurobiology 70:714-725
Brummelte S, Schmidt KL, Taves MD, Soma KK, Galea LAM
2010
Steroid concentrations in plasma, whole blood and brain: effects of saline perfusion to remove blood contamination from brain.
PLoS ONE 5:e15727
Taves MD, Schmidt KL, Ruhr IM, Kapusta K, Prior NH, Soma KK
2010
Androgens and dominance: sex-specific patterns in a highly social fish (Neolamprologus pulcher)
General and Comparative Endocrinology 161:202-207
Taves MD, Desjardins JK, Mishra S, Balshine S
2009