The Neurobiology of Intimacy: The Brain Behind The Bed
With Dr. Amos Gdalyahu
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Dr. Amos Gdalyahu
Connecting Biology to Psychology is one of my biggest passions in life. I have invested more than 20 years in studying and researching brain-science and have always been curious about the mental, philosophical and spiritual implications of it.
My formal romance with the brain started at the prestigious Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. There, I researched neuro-immune interactions for my M.Sc and researched brain-development for my Ph.D. In between, I spent half a year in India where I studied some Buddhism philosophy. Following a huge technological breakthrough in neuroscience it has become feasible for the first time to understand cognition at the cellular level by imaging the structure and function of the same neuronal networks within the brain over months. I joined Dr. Josh Trachtenberg, one of the pioneers of that technology at UCLA for my postdoc. Using this technology, I discovered how learning changes the activity of a neuronal network, and how a mutation that causes autism changes neuronal connectivity. I returned to Israel, and joined the Neurobiology department of Tel Aviv University where I studied the interaction between blood flow and neuronal activity in the context of dementia.
When a friend asked my help for understanding brain mechanisms of pleasure I luckily agreed, and found myself diving into this fascinating literature. So fascinating that I have continued and expanded the scope into all aspects of sexuality besides pleasure. In fact, I have always been curious to learn neuro-sexuality but have never encountered any such course. Therefore, I have read hundreds of research articles on the brain-sciences of sexuality. Turns out that I am not the only one interested in that: many people are interested in receiving this knowledge from me. Indeed, I have the gift of being a good presenter, the gift of being able to explain complicated issues simply. So I am glad to share the scientific knowledge and allow people to receive high-end reliable information on neurosexuality, something that is way too rare.
These days I teach Neurobiology at Tel Hai college, and I give the course 'Biosexuality' at the prestigious program for therapist specializing in sexual therapy. I also participate in teaching the course "sex, sexuality and in between' at Tel Aviv University, Faculty of medicine. I was honored to give the opening lecture at the meetings of The Israelis Society for Sexual Therapy, and of The Israeli Society for Fertility Research.
Most importantly, after so many years in brain-sciences, I am still as passionate about brain research as I was 20 years ago
Higher education
1996-1993
Bachelor's degree, B.Sc with honors Cum Laude from the Technion in Life Sciences
1996-1999
Master, from the Weizmann Institute of Science
Can the immune system be mobilized to heal brain injuries?
2000-2005
PhD, from the Weizmann Institute of Science
What is the molecular mechanism that causes the lack of development of the cerebral cortex in a severe disease called Lissencephaly?
Postdoctoral research
2005-2011
How does learning change the neural network? at UCLA
The University of California Los Angeles
2011-2014
How are the connections between nerve cells damaged by a mutation that causes autism?
at UCLA
2014-2019
Does poor blood flow to the brain change the activity of nerve cells and cause dementia?
at Tel Aviv University
Scientific Publications
13. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy alleviates vascular dysfunction and amyloid burden in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model and in elderly patients Ronit Shapira,Amos Gdalyahu, Irit Gottfried , Efrat Sasson , Amir Hadanny , Shai Efrati , Pablo Blinder , Uri Ashery
Aging (2021).
12. Single Cortical Microinfarcts Lead to Widespread Microglia/Macrophage Migration Along the White Matter.
Alisa Lubart, Amit Benbenishty, Hagai Har-Gil, Hadas Laufer,Amos Gdalyahu, Yaniv Assaf, Pablo Blinder
Cerebral Cortex (2021)
11. Hotspots of dendritic spine turnover facilitate clustered spine addition and learning and memory.
Frank AC, Huang S, Zhou M,Gdalyahu A, Kastellakis G, Silva TK, Lu E, Wen X, Poirazi P, Trachtenberg JT, Silva AJ.
Nature Communications(2018). (Has been cited 78 times*)
10. Understanding the neurovascular unit at multiple scales: Advantages and limitations of multi-photon and functional ultrasound imaging.
Urban A, Golgher L, Brunner C,Gdalyahu A, Har-Gil H, Kain D, Montaldo G, Sironi L, Blinder P.
Adv Drug Deliv Rev. (2017). (Has been cited 19 times*)
9. The autism-related protein Contactin-Associated Protein-Like 2 (CNTNAP2) is required for the stabilization of new spines.
Gdalyahu A, Maria L, Peñagarikano O, Golshani P, Trachtenberg JT, Geschwind DH.
PlosOne (2015). (Has been cited 63 times*)
8. JAKMIP1, a Novel Regulator of Neuronal Translation, Modulates Synaptic Function and Autistic-like Behaviors in Mouse.
Berg JM, Lee C, Chen L, Galvan L, Cepeda C, Chen JY, Peñagarikano O, Stein JL, Li A, Oguro-Ando A, Miller JA, Vashisht AA, Starks ME, Kite EP, Tam E,Gdalyahu A, Al-Sharif NB, Burkett ZD, White SA, Fears SC, Levine MS, Wohlschlegel JA, Geschwind DH.
Neuron(2015). (Has been cited 31 times*)
7. Associative fear learning enhances sparse network coding in the primary sensory cortex.
Gdalyahu A, Tring E, Polack PO, Gruver R, Golshani P, Fanselow MS, Silva AJ, Trachtenberg JT.
Neuron (2012) (Has been cited 98 times*)
6. Absence of CNTNAP2 leads to epilepsy, neuronal migration abnormalities, and core autism-related deficits.
Peñagarikano O, Abrahams BS, Herman EI, Winden KC,Gdalyahu A, Dong H, Sonnenblick LI, Gruver R, Almajano J, Bragin A, Golshani P, Trachtenberg JT, Peles E, and Geschwind DH.
Cell (2011) (Has been cited 783 times*)
5. Site-specific dephosphorylation of doublecortin (DCX) by protein phosphatase1 (PP1).
Shmueli A,Gdalyahu A, Sapoznik S, Sapir T, Tsukada M, Reiner O.
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience (2006). (Has been cited 54 times*)
4. DCX's Phosphorylation by not Just another Kinase (JNK).
Reiner O,Gdalyahu A, Ghosh I, Levy T, Sapoznik S, Nir R, Sapir T. Review article.
Cell-Cycle (2004). (Has been cited 36 times*)
3. DCX, a new mediator of the JNK pathway.
Gdalyahu A, Ghosh I, Levy T, Sapir T, Sapoznik S, Fishler Y, Azoulai D, Reiner O.
EMBO J(2004). (Has been cited 240 times*)
2. DCX in PC12 cells: CREB-mediated transcription and neurite outgrowth.
Shmueli O,Gdalyahu A, Sorokina K, Nevo E, Avivi A, Reiner O.
Human Molecular Genetics (2001). (Has been cited 39 times*)
1. Production of neurotrophins by activated T cells: Implications for neuroprotective autoimmunity.
Moalem G,Gdalyahu A, Shani Y, Otten U, Lazarovici P, Cohen IR, Schwartz M.
Journal of Autoimmunity (2000). (Has been cited 411 times*)
* based on Google Scholar June 2021