Larry J. Young

Larry James Young (June 16, 1967 – March 21, 2024) was an American psychiatrist who was the William P. Timmie Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine. He was head of the Division of Behavioral Neuroscience and Psychiatric Disorders at Emory National Primate Research Center. Young studied how genetic, cellular and neurobiological mechanisms regulate complex social behavior, including social cognition and social bonding. His research focuses heavily on the roles of the neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin in regulating the neural processing of social signals and social attachment. Young developed behavioral paradigms that are useful for screening drugs that enhance social cognition, and the development of novel strategies for drug discovery in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Young was also the director of the Center for Translational Social Neuroscience at Emory University, which brings together scientists and clinicians in the Atlanta area who are focused on understanding and healing the human brain. Young's work has also been the subject of a National Geographic documentary.

Early life
Young was born in Sylvester, Georgia, in 1967, and grew up on his family's peanut farm. Life in a rural town made it difficult for him to access educational materials, so he spent most of his time observing the natural world. This experience formed his interest in the biological sciences. As an undergraduate, Young majored in Biochemistry, graduating from the University of Georgia in 1989. He went on to pursue his Ph.D at the University of Texas at Austin, graduating in 1994 with a degree in Neuroendocrinology. He completed his post-doc studies at Emory University, focusing his research on the role and influence of genes in social expression.

Scientific work with prairie voles
While at Emory University, Young conducted experiments on prairie voles, to demonstrate the role that genes play in forming social bonds. Prairie voles were selected since different species have different mating strategies. Certain species of prairie voles are monogamous, an evolutionary response to environmental factors (i.e, predation, food scarcity, rearing of young). While other species of prairie voles are promiscuous, a response to a lack of evolutionary and environmental stressors. To test if these evolutionary factors were responsible for the divergence of mating strategies among prairie voles, Young altered one single gene in the promiscuous species of a prairie vole. The genetic alteration changed the mating behaviour of the prairie vole, turning a once promiscuous prairie vole, monogamous. The change in mating behaviour, while genetic in nature, was caused by an increase in the receptiveness of the prairie voles brain to the neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin. The results of the study generated great interest beyond the scientific community, with stories appearing in NPR and with National Geographic making a documentary on Young's work.

Personal life and death
In 1985, Young married Michelle Willingham; they had three children and later divorced. He then married neuroscientist Anne Murphy in 2002.

Young died of a heart attack in Tsukuba, Japan on March 21, 2024, at the age of 56. He had traveled to the country for a meeting of the Society for Social Neuroscience.

Publications
According to Google Scholar, Young's works have been cited over 47,000 times giving him an h-index of 111. Some significant publications are: