Patricia Brennan
Recent Campus News
A deeper dive
Mount Holyoke researcher Patrica Brennan’s research found that dolphin clitorises have more in common with the human organ than previously known.
The evolutionary payout for prickly sex
Mount Holyoke expert Patricia Brennan explains that both males and females benefit from the thorny genital arms race in seed beetles.
Separating the baby from the backwater
Anuses segregate babies from back ends, says Patricia Brennan, Mount Holyoke College assistant professor of biology.
Senior Symposium 2021
The culmination of Mount Holyoke students’ academic careers, Senior Symposium marks the metamorphosis from student to expert.
A revealing look
Researchers have developed a 3D model of a dinosaur’s cloaca, a glimpse into prehistoric pudenda that has never before been seen.
Recent Mentions in the Media
Recent Grants
Received a grant from the National Science Foundation for the project 'CAREER: Integrating Form and Function in the Coevolution of Copulatory Traits. The project is for five years.
Recent Publications
Poo, S., Whitfield, S., Watkins-Colwell, G., Gil, N., Goodwin, J, Brennan, P.L.R., … Chakrabarthi, P. 2022. Bridging the research gap between live collections in zoos and preserved collections in natural history museums. Bioscience. doi:10.1093/biosci/biac022
Brennan, P.L.R., Cowart, J. and D. O. Orbach. 2022. Functional morphology of the dolphin clitoris. Current Biology. 31: R1-R3.
Brennan, P.L.R., Sterett, M. [MHC '20]., DiBuono, M.[MHC '20], Lara Granados, G. [MHC '21]. Klo, K.[MHC '20], Marsden, R.[MHC '20], Schleinig, P.[MHC '19], Tanner, L[MHC '19]. and S. Purdy. 2021. Intra-horn penile intromission in the alpaca and consequences to genital morphology. Integrative and Comparative Biology. DOI: 10.1093/icb/icab050, pp:1-10
Moore, B.C., Brennan, P.L.R., Francis, R., Penland, S. Shiavone, K. Wayne, K. Woodward, A.R., Does, M.R. Kim, D. K. and D.A. Kelly. (2021). Effect of inflation on the morphology of phallic glans tissues in the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis), and their relation to interactions with female reproductive tracts. Reproductive Biology, 104(2), 374-386.
Orbach, D.O. Brassey, C. Gardiner, J and Brennan, P.L.R. (2021). 3D Genital Shape Complexity in Female Marine Mammals. Ecology and Evolution. 00:1-9. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7269.
Recent Honors
Gave departmental seminars on her research on sexual conflict and genital evolution at the OEB graduate program at UMass, and at George Mason University (March 25 and April 8, 2022).
Recent article in Current Biology was covered by several press outlets including the New York Times and New Scientist () and was featured in the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Research was highlighted as groundbreaking in the newspaper El Pais, one of the most read newspapers in Spain. Spanish version: https://elpais.com/ciencia/2022-03-05/muchos-cientificos-han-estudiado-penes-pero-hay-un-vacio-increible-en-nuestro-entendimiento-de-las-vaginas.html. English: https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2022-03-07/many-scientists-have-studied-penises-but-there-is-an-incredible-gap-in-our-understaning-of-vaginas.html
Gave departmental seminars on her research at University of California Riverside (February 17, 2022), and at Michigan State University (March 15, 2022).
Was a featured speaker at the Wisconsin Symposium on Feminist Biology in October 8, 2021. Her talk was entitled: "Examining female genitalia yields amazing insights: What has taken so long?"
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