Ashley Monks

Ashley Monks

Professor

Area of Research

Behavioral Neuroendocrinology; Androgens and Sex Differences; Sexual Behavior; Animal Modeling 

Profile

I study how hormones, genetics and the environment interact to produce sexual diversity in the nervous system and behavior. Research in my lab mainly uses non-human laboratory animals (especially mice and rats) to investigate the causes of sex differences. Much of this work examines the roles of testosterone and its receptor (androgen receptor) in broad range of sexual phenotypes of theoretical and applied interest, with a focus on sexual behavior.

Education
B.Sc. (Psychology, McGill University)
M.A. (Psychology, Simon Fraser University)
Ph. D. (Psychology, Simon Fraser University)

Publications

Selected Publications:

Phung T*, Monks DA. Reward of tactile genital stimulation is sexually equivalent, but mechanistically differentiated in mice. Horm Behav. 2025 Jan;167:105672. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2024.105672.

Barsky ST*, Monks DA. Lifespan Effects of Muscle-Specific Androgen Receptor Overexpression on Body Composition of Male and Female Rats. Endocrinology. 2024 Jan 16;165(3):bqae012. doi: 10.1210/endocr/bqae012

Phung T*, Ramzan F*, Monks DA. Hormone-dependent sexual responses of female mice in response to manual genital stimulation. Horm Behav. 2023 May;151:105338. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105338.

Barsky ST*, Monks DA. Myocytic androgen receptor overexpression does not affect sex differences in adaptation to chronic endurance exercise. Biol Sex Differ. 2022 Oct 23;13(1):59. doi: 10.1186/s13293-022-00471-x. 

Swift-Gallant, A*, Coome, LA*, Ramzan, F*, Monks DA (2016) Non-neural androgen receptors affect sexual differentiation of brain and behavior. Endocrinology 157:788-798.

Ramzan, F*, McPhail, M*, Rao, *., Mo, K*, Halievski, K*, Swift-Gallant, A*, Mendoza-Viveros, L, Cheng H-Y M, Monks, DA (2015) “Distinct etiological roles for myocytes and motor neurons in a mouse model of Kennedy's disease/spinobulbar muscular atrophy” Journal of Neurocience 35: 6444-6451.

Niel, L.* Shah, A.*, Lewis, G.*, Mo, K.*, Chattergee,D.*, Fernando, S.*, Hong, M.H., Chang, W., Vollmayr, P., Rosen, J., Miner, J., D., Monks, D.A. (2009) Androgen receptors in muscle fibers do not solely mediate sexual differentiation of the spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus. Endocrinology 150(7):3207-3213

Rao, P.R.*, Monks, D.A. (2009): Transgenic mouse system for conditional expression of Cre recombinase in myocytes. Developmental Neurobiology 69:401-6 

Lenz, K., Graham, M.D.*, Parada, M.*, Fleming, A.S., Sengelaub, D.R., Monks, D.A (2008): Tactile stimulation during artificial rearing influences adult function and morphology in a sexually dimorphic neuromuscular system. Developmental Neurobiology 68(4):542-57