Kiran K. Soma

Currently: Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia

Formerly: Post-doctoral trainee, Department of Physiological Science, Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, UCLA

Principle Research Interests:
Neural and endocrine regulation of animal behavior, including the natural behavior of wild animals (neuroethology). Territorial aggression and control of aggressive behavior. Sexual differentiation of the brain. Regulation and functions of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in the central nervous system. Neurosteriod synthesis and actions of neurosteriods. Stress.

E-mail: kiran@physci.ucla.edu, somakiran@hotmail.com

Education:
B.A. Human Biology, Stanford University, 1992
Undergraduate Thesis: Androgen Control of Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Neurons (Advisor: Russ Fernald)

Ph.D. Zoology, University of Washington, 2000
Doctoral Thesis: Neuroendocrinology of Territorial Aggression in a Songbird (Advisor: John Wingfield)

Awards and Honors:
Invited symposium speaker, International Ornithological Congress, Durban, South Africa, 1998
Young Investigator Award, Workshop on Steroid Hormones and Brain Function, 1999
Invited symposium speaker, Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology, Seeweisen, Germany, 1999
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Pre-doctoral Fellow, 1994 to 2000
Travel Award, Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, 2002
National Institutes of Health Individual NRSA Post-doctoral Fellow, 2001-2004

Selected Publications:
Francis RC, Soma KK & Fernald RD (1993) Social regulation of the brain-pituitary-gonadal axis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 90: 7794-7798.

Soma KK, Francis RC, Wingfield JC & Fernald RD (1996) Androgen regulation of hypothalamic neurons containing gonadotropin-releasing hormone in a cichlid fish: integration with social cues. Hormones and Behavior 30: 216-226.
http://www.idealibrary.com/links/doi/10.1006/hbeh.1996.0026

Romero LM, Soma KK, O'Reilly KM, Suydam R & Wingfield JC (1998) Hormones and territorial behavior during breeding in snow buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis): an arctic-breeding songbird. Hormones and Behavior 33: 40-47.
http://www.idealibrary.com/servlet/doi/10.1006/hbeh.1997.1432

Romero LM, Soma KK & Wingfield JC (1998) Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis changes allow seasonal modulation of corticosterone in a bird. American Journal of Physiology 274: R1338-R1344.

Romero LM, Soma KK & Wingfield JC (1998) Changes in pituitary and adrenal sensitivities allow the snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis), an Arctic-breeding songbird, to modulate corticosterone release seasonally. Journal of Comparative Physiology B 168: 353-358.
http://link.springer-ny.com/link/service/journals/00360/bibs/8168005/81680353.htm

Soma KK & Wingfield JC (1999) Endocrinology of aggression in the nonbreeding season. In: Adams N & Slotow R (eds), Proceedings of 22nd International Ornithological Congress Durban, University of Natal, pp 1606-1620.

Soma KK, Hartman V, Wingfield JC & Brenowitz EA (1999) Seasonal changes in androgen receptor immunoreactivity in the song nucleus HVc of a wild bird. Journal of Comparative Neurology 409: 224-236.

Soma KK, Bindra R, Gee J, Wingfield JC & Schlinger BA (1999) Androgen metabolizing enzymes show region-specific changes across the breeding season in the brain of a wild songbird. Journal of Neurobiology 41: 176-188. [cover photo]
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/66001277/START

Soma KK, Sullivan KA & Wingfield JC (1999) Combined aromatase inhibitor and antiandrogen treatment decreases territorial aggression in a wild songbird during the nonbreeding season. General and Comparative Endocrinology 115: 442-453.
http://www.idealibrary.com/links/doi/10.1006/gcen.1999.7334

Hau M, Wikelski M, Soma KK & Wingfield JC (2000) Testosterone and year-round territorial aggression in a tropical bird. General and Comparative Endocrinology 117: 20-33.
http://www.idealibrary.com/links/doi/10.1006/gcen.1999.7390

Soma KK, Tramontin AD & Wingfield JC (2000) Oestrogen regulates male aggression in the non-breeding season. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 267: 1089-1096.

Soma KK, Sullivan KA, Tramontin AD, Saldanha CJ, Schlinger BA & Wingfield JC (2000) Acute and chronic effects of an aromatase inhibitor on territorial aggression in breeding and nonbreeding male song sparrows. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 186: 759-769. [cover photo]

Wingfield JC, Soma KK, Wikelski M, Meddle SL & Hau M (2001) Life cycles, behavioural traits, and endocrine mechanisms. In: Dawson A & Chaturvedi C (eds), Avian Endocrinology. New Delhi, India: Narosa Publishing, pp 3-17.

Soma KK & Wingfield JC (2001) Dehydroepiandrosterone in songbird plasma: seasonal regulation and relationship to territorial aggression. General and Comparative Endocrinology 123: 144-155.
[cover photo]
http://www.idealibrary.com/links/doi/10.1006/gcen.2001.7657

Wingfield JC, Lynn SE & Soma KK (2001) Avoiding the "costs" of testosterone: ecological bases of hormone-behavior interactions. Brain, Behavior and Evolution 57: 239-251.
http://www.online.karger.com/library/karger/renderer/dataset.exe?jcode=BBE&action=render&rendertype=abstract&uid=BBE.bbe57239

Schlinger BA, Soma KK & Saldanha CJ (2001) Advances in avian behavioral endocrinology. Auk 118: 283-289.
http://www.bioone.org/bioone/?request=get-document&issn=0004-8038&volume=118&issue=02&page=0283

Schlinger BA, Soma KK & London SE (2001) Neurosteroids and brain sexual differentiation. Trends in Neurosciences 24: 429-431.
http://reviews.bmn.com/browse/areas/record?uid=TINS.etd00816_01662236_v0024i08_00001855

Lee DW, Smith GT, Tramontin AD, Soma KK, Brenowitz EA & Clayton NS (2001) Hippocampal volume does not change seasonally in a non food-storing songbird. Neuroreport 12: 1925-1928.
http://www.csulb.edu/web/labs/lee/IMAGES/Lee_etal_2001.pdf

Soma KK, Wissman AM, Brenowitz EA & Wingfield JC (2002) Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) increases territorial song and the size of an associated brain region in a male songbird. Hormones and Behavior 41: 203-212.
http://www.idealibrary.com/links/doi/10.1006/hbeh.2001.1750

Wingfield JC & Soma KK (2002) Spring and autumn territoriality: same behavior, different mechanisms? American Zoologist, in press.

Lei FM, Thompson C, Qu YH & Soma KK (2002) Molt at high altitude: snow finches in the Tibetan plateau of China. Ibis, under review.

Schlinger, B.A., K.K. Soma and S.E. London. 2002. Integrating Steroid Synthesis with Steroid Action: Multiple Mechanisms in Birds. Proc.23rd International Ornithological Congress, Beijing, China, August.

Soma, K., B.A. Schlinger, J.C. Wingfield and C.J. Saldanha. 2003. Brain aromatase, 5- and 5-reductase change seasonally in wild male song sparrows: relationship to territorial aggression. Journal of Neurobiology. 56: 209-221.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12884261

Selected Published Abstracts:
Soma KK, Wissman AM, Brenowitz EA & Wingfield JC (2000) Effects of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) on behavior and neuroanatomy of a songbird. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts 26: 1762.

Soma KK, Freking FW & Schlinger BA (2001) Behavioral and neuroanatomical effects of neurosteroids in songbirds. Proceedings of the International Meeting on Steroids and Nervous System, Torino, Italy. Trabajos del Instituto Cajal, 128: 125-6.

Soma KK, Schlinger BA, Wingfield JC & Saldanha CJ (2001) Brain aromatase activity and aggression are reduced in molting songbirds. Hormones and Behavior 39: 350-1.

Hau M, Wingfield JC & Soma KK (2001) Hormonal control of year-round territorial aggression in male and female tropical birds. Hormones and Behavior 39: 333.

Soma KK, Schlinger BA, Wingfield JC & Saldanha CJ (2001) Seasonal changes in aggression and brain aromatase. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts 27: 646.3.

Richardson M, Moore IT, Soma KK, Lei FM & Wingfield JC (2002) Stress in an unpredictable environment: snow finches on the Tibetan plateau. Integrative and Comparative Biology 41: 563.

Soma KK, Alday NA & Schlinger BA (2002) DHEA metabolism by 3b-HSD in songbird brain: sex and regional differences. Hormones and Behavior 41: 491.

Soma KK, Alday NA & Schlinger BA (2002) 3b-HSD and aromatase in songbird brain: DHEA metabolism, aggression and song. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, in press.

Images:

Diagram of DHEA Metabolism

Song Sprarrow Images

Song Sparrow Aromatase mRNA