🧠 Meet Dr. Milan Valyear (@milanium.bsky.social), the new Assistant Professor in @psych.ubc.ca and a researcher at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health!
Learn more about his career journey and his research into brain circuitry: https://bit.ly/4szI4fT
What drives us to act and when do we stop?
Dr. Milan Valyear (@milanium.bsky.social) is a new @psych.ubc.ca faculty member studying the brain circuits behind reinforcement and disengagement.
From childhood tinkering to cutting-edge neuroscience, his work is all about curiosity and discovery.
What a great day ☀️
Exploring beautiful Vancouver with new friends 😎 @milanium.bsky.social @taracdelorme.bsky.social
I defended my PhD 10 years ago today. That was the least remarkable thing that happened that day. Sharing something I wrote about it last year. Since then "the horrors persist but so do we." And with dignity.
Photo of Dr. Zachary Pennington and Dr. Milan Valyear
We're thrilled to welcome Dr. @zachtpennington.bsky.social and Dr. @milanium.bsky.social as Assistant Professors in our Behavioural Neuroscience area and members of the @dmcbrainhealth.bsky.social.
Read their Q&As: psych.ubc.ca/news
PhD work is finally published!
The campus of Pomona College - clusters of white buildings with terracotta roofs, with a tall white clock tower in the middle of the frame. The San Gabriel mountains loom in the background, some still capped with snow from the winter.
New Year?! New Job!
I’m excited to share that I will be joining Pomona College as an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience this year!! 🧠
Very grateful to all who have encouraged me along this path, and I'm looking forward to this next adventure in science.
@pomonacollege.bsky.social
Timmy Le, Gilles Martin, PhD, and Pablo Gimenez-Gomez, PhD; graphic overlay says 2025 Top Stories
Research out of the Martin lab in 2025 provided insights into binge drinking behavior and alcohol dependency. The story on the research, that may lead to new therapeutic targets. was one of our most read stories of the year: direc.to/oicV
#AdvancingTogether2025 #BingeDrinking
So excited for the science to come from the Valyear lab!
Welcome to Vancouver and UBC! We’re excited to have you @milanium.bsky.social!
So proud of you!
en route to Vancouver. thrilled to start my lab @psych.ubc.ca @arts.ubc.ca and join the @dmcbrainhealth.bsky.social - doors open Jan 2026. it's great to be back, 🇨🇦.
🤩Big thanks to:
@wickedneuro.bsky.social
@brainaddiction.bsky.social
@abepalmer.bsky.social
Lieselot Carrette
Leah Solberg Woods
@snehyanka
Lisa Maturin, Mackenzie Gamble
@Ben_in_vivo
👍Take home: Opioid-induced, sex-specific changes last into withdrawal and abstinence and may contribute to relapse risk, highlighting the SCN as a potential therapeutic target for opioid use disorder.
〰️Link to rhythmic genes: The highest proportion of sex-specific rhythmic genes emerged during abstinence, suggesting that chronic opioid exposure leads to long-lasting, sex-dependent disruptions to the brain’s internal clock, persisting well after drug use ends.
✨During abstinence, females continued to show lasting alterations in stress-related pathways, energy metabolism, and neurotransmission, whereas males exhibited persistent oxidative stress and ongoing changes in cell detoxification processes.
Key findings ⤵️
✨During intoxication and withdrawal, females showed disruptions in genes involved in synaptic signaling, circadian rhythms, and inflammation, while males exhibited activation of DNA damage and immune response pathways.
We performed RNAseq on the SCN from genetically diverse female and male rats during 4 key stages:
1⃣Naïve
2⃣Intoxication
3⃣Acute withdrawal
4⃣Prolonged abstinence
We also linked SCN molecular changes to addiction-like behaviors.
Opioid Use Disorder is a global crisis.
〰️Chronic use worsens sleep/circadian rhythms, which can elevate cravings, negative affect, and relapse risk.
🧠The SCN drives daily rhythms, but how opioids alter its molecular machinery is unknown.
How do opioids disrupt the brain’s internal clock, and how does this differ between sexes? Our new study uses RNAseq to examine the suprachiasmatic nucleus across different opioid exposure states in genetically diverse rats. ✨sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S277...
Ryan W. Logan, PhD, is a principal investigator on three recently funded NIH grants that examine the underlying biology of opioid use disorder and the role of sleep and circadian rhythms in relapse vulnerability: direc.to/nKbm
#opioid #sleep #circadian @wickedneuro.bsky.social @cmu.edu
Delighted to be among the ERC Starting Grant awardees for 2025 !!! This grant will investigate how adolescent exploration or risk-taking shapes brain development and behavioral outcomes. More info coming soon ! #ERCStG 🇪🇺
New collaborative study from our team lead by PIN student alum Tanya Pareek examined the effect of chronic alcohol on the brain region involved in contextual memories and identified potential new therapeutic targets. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Tara Delorme, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Ryan Logan, PhD, is one of 14 researchers from Quebec working in the U.S. to be honored by the Fonds de recherche du Québec-Santé: direc.to/n1KM
#opiod #addiction #communautéFRQ @fondsrechercheqc.bsky.social @wickedneuro.bsky.social
Great 1st day at #AAIC25! We're here for the rest of the week, stop by our @touchscreencog.bsky.social booth that's located in the Canadian Pavilion. 🎉
@maximoprado.bsky.social @westernubrainscan.bsky.social @lisasaksida.bsky.social @timbussey.bsky.social @tcnlab.bsky.social @pradobsky.bsky.social
McGill researchers discover how disrupted daily rhythms can affect adolescent brain development 🧠➡️ www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/cha... @healthsciences.mcgill.ca @douglasresearch.bsky.social
🤔 Interested in examining brain structure and function in unparalleled resolution?
🧠 🔬 The Mesoscopic Integrated Neuroimaging Data (MIND) Platform is searching for a postdoc to assist in the initiative that combines 15.2T MRI and light sheet microscopy.
👇 See the attachment below for details.
Congratulations!!:)
Thrilled to share that I have obtained a permanent position at CNRS 🎉🎉🎉
Thanks so much to everyone that supported me along the way, and especially @faurelab.bsky.social !