Podcast with Danielle Stolzenberg on epigenetics and maternal behavior

How does becoming a mother permanently rewire the brain , and could the answer lie not in the genes themselves, but in how experience reshapes their expression? Neuroscientist Danielle Stolzenberg explains how epigenetic mechanisms transform the maternal brain, revealing a molecular bridge between hormones, experience, and lasting behavioral change. Subscribe for more from the Convergent Science Network podcast series. Danielle Stolzenberg joins Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott at the BCBT summer school to discuss her research on the epigenetic basis of maternal behavior in mammals. The conversation centers on a striking biological puzzle: most mammalian females undergo a dramatic shift in responsiveness around the time of birth, and that change persists for life. Stolzenberg investigates how brief experiences with infants, combined with hormonal priming, produce long-lasting changes in gene expression through histone acetylation , a form of cellular memory that alters how neurons in the maternal circuit function without changing the DNA sequence itself. The discussion unpacks how estradiol and oxytocin prepare the brain for motherhood, but experience with pups is what consolidates the behavioral transformation. Stolzenberg presents evidence using histone deacetylase inhibitors to show that enhancing histone acetylation can accelerate maternal learning, reducing the number of pup exposures needed to produce lasting maternal responsiveness. Her work targets the medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus, a region central to maternal care, where she has identified increases in CREB-binding protein following infant interaction. Key topics include the molecular distinction between genetics and epigenetics, how hormones and experience converge on shared chromatin-modifying pathways, the role of CREB-mediated gene transcription in memory consolidation, and why maternal behavior serves as a powerful model for understanding how transient experiences produce permanent changes in brain function. The conversation also addresses whether these epigenetic modifications could be transmitted across generations and what that means for understanding behavioral inheritance. Part of the Convergent Science Network podcast series from the BCBT Summer School.