Those of us doing research related to women’s health have been hit particularly hard by the govt’s sabotage of the NIH. I spoke to WaPo for this piece, as painful as it was to discuss the reality my lab is facing. www.washingtonpost.com/science/2026...
Our new study on neurobiology of stress-driven food intake.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
In mice, PFC controls lateral hypothalamus through a multi-branched network. Stress causes differential plasticity across branches, priming the network to promote bingeing. #stresseating
What has changed in mama bear brain (well, actually mice) to make her risk her life to attack a potential threat and protect her young? Oxytocin is the key! Happy to share our new study led by two awesome postdocs: Takashi Yamaguchi and Rongzhen Yan.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Excited to share our new study on how the brain generates placebo pain relief!
We developed a mouse model that recapitulates key features of human placebo analgesia, then used it to identify causal circuitry.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
today.ucsd.edu/story/neurob...
1/n
Trainees attending @canacn.bsky.social 2026 Meeting - @franklandlab.bsky.social and I are co-hosting the Circuits & Behaviour satellite and seeking 4 trainee speakers (one of whom will receive a $500 "Best Talk" prize). Register by next Friday for consideration:
www.eventbrite.ca/e/neural-cir...
🚨It turns out that semaglutide, known to reduce food intake and obesity, causes rats to increase their food choices compared to cocaine!
This effect is particularly evident when the effort required to obtain cocaine is intermediate
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
PhD students reflect on how their supervisors made a meaningful difference — from quiet acts of kindness to career-shaping guidance
go.nature.com/422vHhs
Delighted to share our discoveries about one of the brain's neurotransmitter systems:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Together with colleagues at the @alleninstitute.org, we have learned a lot about a tiny cluster of neurons in the brainstem locus coeruleus (LC) that releases norepinephrine (NE). 1
🚨 New lab preprint alert! 🚨
A study 6 years in the making, made possible by @simonsfoundation.org support : "A multi-omic atlas in the African turquoise killifish reveals increased glucocorticoid signaling as a hallmark of brain aging" now on #biorXiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... A 🧵 1/11 🧪🖥️🧬
Cornelius DeWitt, 1959
Cornelius DeWitt, 1959
New paper! Congrats to @markplitt.bsky.social, Konstantin and team! The brain’s spatial map isn’t static but for hippocampus CA1 maps to change with experience, they need postsynaptic membrane fusion. A new link between synaptic machinery and flexible coding!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Wait… localized norepinephrine transients in the awake visual cortex?!
Who would have guessed this neuromodulatory signal is that spatially precise, right where visual processing is happening. Brain state control just got a lot more local. @ruedigersarah.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This review examines evidence that serious mental illnesses are associated with accelerated biological aging, highlighting the consequences of greater symptom severity, poorer treatment response, and increased medical comorbidity
Super, super interesting work by @kathaschmack.bsky.social on a neuroimmune model of psychosis! 👏
A cortical circuit for orchestrating oromanual food manipulation www.cell.com/neuron/abstr... - Om! Nom! Nom! Nom! (the neuroscience of...) 🍪
Our NIAAA funded Post-DoctT32 has received its NoA (non competing renewal). Are you looking for a post-doc and interested in joining our amazing center? If so, reach out! Here is a convenient form that you can use to upload CV and a cover letter!
unc.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
1/8 New preprint alert!
How are signals from the heart encoded in the brain?
What could be the functional implications of cardioception?
We found that neurons in the posterior insular cortex are precisely tuned to heartbeats, and that this cardio-insular coupling supports emotion coding in mice.
Youthful antics predict lifespan? Using machine learning & continuous recordings of #killifish behavior from adolescence until death, @brunetlab.bsky.social & @deisseroth.bsky.social find early-life behavior predicted future lifespan! Now published @science.org: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 🧪 1/2
Check out the newest work from our, from Fabricio Nicola @fabricionicola.bsky.social on mouse jumping and spinal cell types.
Excellent collab with @vulcnethologist.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
we are losing so much talent, progress, and hope for no good reason www.vox.com/future-perfe...
Following @joshuasweitz.bsky.social post and discussions with him and the Vox story, I have estimated R01 success rates for each NIH institute and center with enough awards for this to be meaningful.
A long 🧵...
1/25
2026 essay competition
Oh wow. I know people here have THOUGHTS. Write them up & submit!!
I love that all essays have to be public before entering. This is exactly the type of conversation we need more of. (Also cash prizes + philanthropy is listening)
Now which on my list should I pick 🤔?
astera.org/essay-compet...
Recent graduates interested in a project on the very cutting edge of life science: HFSP postdoc grant proposals are opening soon, webinars with info available for sign-up: www.hfsp.org/hfsp-events/...
I'd be happy to host anyone with a cool idea who wants to come to Norway! 🧠
Inhibitory neurons are among the most transcriptomically diverse class of neurons in the CNS, with some brain regions having 60+ distinct cell types. Do humans share the same repertoire as rodents? Birds? Fish? 1/13
Graph of award probability of R35 and R01 from NIH factbook as a function of review rank percentile. As is apparent, 2025 is a significant departure, with lower award probabilities at all scores <40 and significant departures from norm, where even being in the top 10% is no longer a nearly certain indicator of success. Data source: https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/report/302
The data is in: the NIH goalposts have shifted.
What were once almost certain fundable scores have become coin flips and what used to be likely grants have become aspirational, leading to fewer awards.
Another manifestation of how HHS policies have led to fewer awards and less science.
Does #ChronicStress weaken our ability to cope with stressful situations?
🔍 A new study from @kbi-uhn.bsky.social's Dr. Jaideep Bains (@stressynomics.bsky.social) says maybe not. Our bodies can adapt and keep stress‑response systems working when it counts.
🔗: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🎉 RSA Members in the news 📰 Tom Kash and Bob Messing contributed to this NYT article on how alcohol impacts the body
🔗https://nyti.ms/4kLkiLG
A half-century old question may have its final answer. Using high-resolution #Mini2P microscopes, we find no evidence of local topography in #PlaceCells. Place fields of neighbouring cells are no more similar than those of randomly selected cells. 🧠🗺️ Out now in @pnas.org www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
