Melissa Cordes
Email: m-cordes@bethel.edu
Job Title
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Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences
Highlight
Dr. Cordes is interested in the neural integration of social cues and communication in European starlings as well as the possible rewarding properties of androgens.
Started at Bethel
2015
Education
- Wisconsin Lutheran College - B.S. in Biology, 2007
- University of Wisconsin - Ph.D. in Zoology, 2015
Biography
Dr. Cordes recently completed her PhD program, focusing on the neuroscience involved in the social cues that affect communication in starlings. This research will ideally affect the way we understand autism and the missing cues for effective communication. Her projects have included investigating the steroid hormone receptor role in resource dependent behavior via immunohistochemistry, as well as molecular work examining gene expression profiles between dominant and subordinate individuals. She is also pursuing hormonal manipulations to determine the effects of steroid hormones on the opioid and dopamine systems. Dr. Cordes is also interested in the rewarding properties of androgens, and post transcriptional modifications of hormone receptor genes, e.g. methylation.
Courses Taught
- BIO118 General Biology
- GES309 Biology of the Mind
- BIO/PSY130 Introduction to Neuroscience
- BIO216/217 Human Physiology
- BIO399 Introduction to Research
Professional Organizations, Committees, and Boards
Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology
Society for Neurosceince
Research interests
Dr. Cordes is interested in the neural integration of social cues and communication in European starlings as well as the possible rewarding properties of androgens.