Susan E. Swithers

Active Mentor - currently hosting PULSe students for laboratory rotations and recruiting PULSe students into the laboratory; serves on preliminary exam committees

Current Research Interests:

Work in my laboratory involves studying the development of controls ingestive behavior in rats. In particular, our work has recently focused on the acquisition of metabolic regulatory capacities, the role of ovarian steroids in modulating responses to changes in energy utilization and the role of relationships between sensory signals and calories in the modulation of food intake and energy balance.

Selected Publications:

Swithers, S.E., & Davidson, T.L. A role for sweet taste: calorie predictive relations in energy regulation by rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 122, 161-173 (2008).

Swithers, S.E., McCurley, M., Hamilton, E., & Doerflinger, A. Influence of ovarian hormones on development of ingestive responding to alterations in fatty acid oxidation in female rats. Hormones and Behavior, 54, 471-477 (2008).

Swithers, S.E., Baker, C.R., & Davidson, T.L. General and persistent effects of high intensity sweeteners on body weight gain and caloric compensation in rats. Behavioral Neuroscience,123, 772-80, (2009).