Oxytocin’s pathway to the origins of speech and dance

Dr. Theofanopoulou’s research focuses on unraveling the neural circuits underlying complex sensory-motor behaviors that drive social communication, particularly speech and dance, while exploring effective drug- and arts-based interventions for sensory-motor deficits commonly associated with brain disorders. In her lecture, she will discuss her brain imaging studies that identified overlapping regions in the primary motor cortex responsible for controlling muscles relevant to both speech and dance. At the genetic level, Dr. Theofanopoulou will present her spatial transcriptomic findings, which revealed an upregulation of the oxytocin gene pathway in critical regions for speech and dance, including the primary motor cortex and brainstem. To investigate the role of oxytocin in complex motor behaviors, she will share results from studies in zebra finches, Bengalese finches, white-rumped munias, and humans, demonstrating oxytocin’s involvement in vocal production. Additionally, she will explain the genomic tools she developed to translate her oxytocin findings across vertebrates, culminating in a proposal for a universal vertebrate gene nomenclature. Looking ahead to her current and future work, Dr. Theofanopoulou will introduce her clinical projects, which explore both drug-based (oxytocin) and arts-based (dance) therapies as promising treatments for speech and motor deficits observed in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders.