This weekend I walked to at graduation to end my 8 years in Pittsburgh. This was supported by mentors and friends including
Andreas Pfenning and Ruby Holland.
To top it off, a major PhD dissertation project with
@wrstauffer.bsky.social
is now published in Neuron! bit.ly/4ktg1v1
I'm excited to be matched to at @stanfordanes.bsky.social, an excellent program, and future home for me to continue my career as a physician scientist caring for the people from where I grew up. 🧑🏻⚕️👨🏽🔬 #doubledocs
list of banned keywords
🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.
I'm teaching single-cell data analysis in #Rstats this Spring 2025
@FAESatNIH_EDU
! 📊
Two-course series:
Updated Seurat v5 tutorials
+ multi-modal analysis
+ spatial transcriptomics content
Real datasets & self-directed projects
Register @ tinyurl.com/FAESscBioS2025
#bioinformatics #scRNA
Ack! The copy paste from twitter failed me. Here’s the most important part of the thread: tinyurl.com/nphpfcenh
🌟 15/15 Impact: These tools enable new experiments in primate cognition & potential therapies. Grateful to both labs & collaborators for support! DM for questions! /end
🧩 14/15 Biggest achievement: Built pipeline to identify & validate cell-specific tools in primates. Years of work and a huge team effort but worth it! 😮💨
🔮 13/15 What's next:
- Studying cognitive circuits
- Developing targeted therapies
- Understanding disorders
Just getting started!
🎓 12/15 Proud to share resources, contact
@wrstauffer
for details:
- Primate DLPFC cell atlas🧬
- Our ML models💻
- Validated viral toolbox 🧰 🦠
All available to accelerate research! #OpenScience
⚠️ 11/15 We're transparent about limitations:
- Some baseline non-specific expression
- Promoter needs optimization
- Viral crosstalk issues in multiplexing
More work ahead!
🐭 10/15 Surprising discovery: Our primate enhancers worked in mouse cortex too! Evolution conserved these regulatory elements 🧬 #evolution
🔍 9/15 Our validation pipeline:
- Multiplexed screening first
- Single injections to confirm
- Functional testing
Rigorous approach pays off!
🧪 8/15 Key finding: Getting specificity right depends on:
- Viral titer (concentration matters!)
- Capsid choice
- Injection parameters
Details matter!
⚡️ 7/15 Most exciting part: Used RMacL3-01 to express ChR2. Could control L2/3 neurons with light! First time achieving this specificity in primate DLPFC 🔦 #optogenetics
🔋 6/15 Best performers:
- Our RMacL3-01: Targets L2/3 projection neurons (77% specific!)
- RMacL5ET-01: Hits L5 extra long-range projection neurons
Proud of these results! 🎯
🎯 5/15 Our viral toolbox: Created AAVs with these enhancers. Like GPS-guided delivery trucks for genes! Tested different viral capsids (PHP.eB, 2YF, X1.1) to optimize delivery 🚛
🤖 4/15 The cool part: We developed ML models (SNAIL) to scan thousands of DNA regions & predict enhancers. Turned a needle-in-haystack problem into a targeted search! #MachineLearning
🧬 3/15 Our approach: We used snRNA-seq & ATAC-seq from rhesus DLPFC. Found 11 excitatory & 10 inhibitory neuron types conserved in humans🧑🏽🦲and rodents🐭! Each with unique molecular fingerprints 🎯 #genomics
🔬 2/15 The challenge: How do we study specific neuron types in primate brains? Prior to our work, we lacked tools to target DLPFC neurons, especially in a cell-type specific way #Neuroscience
🧠 1/15 First bsky post and preprint alert! Part 4 of my thesis work is now online🎓🕺📜! We created tools to study specific neuron types in primate prefrontal cortex to be able to study complex thinking! Let's break down this work from the Stauffer (Pitt 🐵) and Pfenning (CMU🧬) labs🧵.
I made a systems neuroscience starter pack, focused on experimentalists who study the brain at the level of populations of neurons!
Also want to be on the list? Reply or DM me a picture of your ephys rig or 2p setup and I'll add you 🤭
go.bsky.app/UiqX7ry
I made a starter pack for neuroscience folks but I just saw that it’s capped at 150 people. Sorry if I missed anyone! Maybe #neuroscience folks should start making subfield starter packs? 🧪
go.bsky.app/Q69XurQ
A starter pack! Some of my favorite women in neuroscience (sorry if I forgot you, I will add!)
go.bsky.app/SCFmKoC
As an #R user both in #Rstudio and #Terminal, I have been known to change my IDE color panel to look like the #Matrix 😎💻💊
Yass 👏🏽
I have money on those being subtypes the medial shell NAcc islands of NUDAP MSNs 😉. #addiction #neurobiology
Microscopy image of human brain with fluorescently labeled cell markers
Doing a #MicroscopyMonday because I’m just so excited about these images of D1R sub -populations in nucleus accumbens of human brain 🧠🔬🤩
Hi Everyone 👋 Been slow to migrate over here but here I am! Neuroscientist studying addiction stress, circuits and molecules across the lifespan. Prof and Vice Chair of Neurobio and Assoc Director of the Kahlert Institute for Addiction Medicine.