A beach late afternoon view from a hotel balcony. Palm trees and sand.
Not sure how many smell/taste/interception scientists are here but for those that are, #AChemS2026 is starting soon. The day's travel brought me here, and that's alright for now
We are recruiting a post-doc to study olfactory processing and decision-making in rodents, combining quantitative behavior with neurophysiology.
www.oist.jp/careers/post...
Please share with interested colleagues and trainees 🙏
My first post here, we have a new preprint out from @aicjanelia.bsky.social! Upright LSFM is fantastic for live imaging, but not amenable to all samples - especially those requiring an air-liquid interface. We worked with Tokai Hit to try to fix that.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
It's National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week here in the US and I want to send out a virtual high five to all my colleagues out there, on the bench and beyond, upholding quality and delivering the lab results that are the foundation of so much medical care. Happy Lab Week, friends.
Our group just received a new R01 that was delayed by many months- it should have been awarded ‘25, like the curve below. This grant had the highest score we’d ever received (2%-ile), yet funding was uncertain. With the delay we had to lay people off. Very inefficient. And we are the lucky ones.
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...
Everyone should hear this: it is ALWAYS a privilege and a treat for professors to hear from former students and trainees. I love to hear what you have been up to since you were in my lab, class, whatever.
Same! Truly grateful to have the support to pursue a career of research, teaching, and discovery for the public good!
And vice versa. It's not easy working in federal science agencies these days.
It’s brutal in academia right now. A lot is out of our control, but it doesn’t cost anything to remember that there are humans behind papers and grants…reviewers, program officials and funders can be more empathetic in the face of unprecedented chaos in the US scientific enterprise.
New study led by Ning Shen w/ @phruzycki.bsky.social: a genome-wide in vivo CRISPR screen in a retinitis pigmentosa mouse model identifies genes whose loss accelerates photoreceptor death. Overexpressing two, UFD1 and UXT, preserves photoreceptors, retinal function, and vision. 🧵
I wrote about why every lab should have AI use guidelines, and how to do it.
open.substack.com/pub/blekhman...
Christian Cazares, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow Cognitive Science University of California San Diego Thursday, April 9, 2026, 10:00-11:00 AM 3-6408- K-307 Auditorium (In-person only) Cross-scale electrophysiological biomarkers of cortical dysfunction and behavior in Rett syndrome Rett syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder mostly caused by mutations in the X-linked MECP2 gene and characterized by developmental regression in speech and motor skills, yet no reliable biomarkers capture symptom heterogeneity across scales from neurobiology to behavior. Progress has been limited in part by fragmentation across model systems and recording modalities, where findings from patient EEG and animal electrophysiology are interpreted within separate frameworks. My research addresses this by organizing across scales around a shared analytical measure: the aperiodic exponent, a physics-based feature of neural activity that can be derived from the power spectra of any electrophysiological recording, from scalp EEG to intracranial probes. I will present converging evidence establishing the aperiodic exponent as a translational biomarker of cortical dysfunction in Rett syndrome. By applying spectral parameterization to patient scalp EEG, I show that the aperiodic exponent is reduced in Rett syndrome and negatively associated with visual reception and clinical severity. Intracranial recordings in female MECP2 heterozygous mice reveal that this signature is recapitulated across cortical layers in visual cortex. These animals also exhibit impaired visual acuity, reduced contrast sensitivity, and postural and gait abnormalities. Ongoing immunohistochemistry and single-nucleus RNA sequencing will connect these electrophysiological and behavioral phenotypes to cell-type-specific molecular disruptions. By treating the same measure as a translational bridge across patients and experimental models, these findings use cross-species convergence to lay the groundwork for transforming subjective
Save the date!
Looking forward to our NEUROYES speaker, this Thursday 👇
Christian Cazares, PhD, of University of California San Diego
Talk title: Cross-scale electrophysiological biomarkers of cortical dysfunction and behavior in Rett syndrome
Learn more about NEUROYES: buff.ly/louTYM1
In addition to the top 1/3 NIH triage system, we are also now having institute-specific mechanisms absorbed into "traditional" CSR-led review panels.
That means NOFOs with highly specific goals/instructions are being reviewed along with their Parent-version counterparts at regular SRGs.
Sharif University in Tehran was just bombed
Founded in 1965, it is one the most elite science and engineering institutions in the world. Alumni include the mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, first woman to win the Fields Medal
Here is the list of other alumni
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
The students who come here for their education are (1) often the best of the best of the best in their home institutions/countries and (2) make immense personal sacrifices to build a life here with limited social support. They enrich our research and our communities.
Today is the anniversary of the April 1 RIFs at NIH and HHS.
Thinking of my colleagues who lost their jobs last year.
These cuts did no improve efficiency. They undermined the functioning of our government.
Just a reminder that 1yr ago today many dedicated NIH employees received RIF notices and started the process where many others were told they must leave their positions/ICs after years of service.
The pain felt across the scientific community in the last year is also felt by those serving it.
Also another kick in the teeth for us ECRs who started faculty positions around COVID-times. Juuuuust as we start to become senior-enough to be considered for standing study sections, the big perk evaporates.
6 scientists - 4 faculty members and two trainees - posing together in front of a large screen showing a slide entitled "2026 O'Leary Prize Competition."
Had an amazing Thursday and Friday at Wash U Neuroscience as part of their annual O'Leary Prize competition! It was like a family reunion to me, filled with amazing science, good friends and colleagues, and heaps of fond memories. Amazing new Neuroscience building, too.
Until next time, WUSTL!
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...
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_...
Same! Between each other and the presence of objects in the world, keeping them on task - or even just not actively unraveling - is like a game of whack-a-mole...
A new paper shows that women, particularly those early in their careers, have been disproportionately affected by NIH grant terminations. www.statnews.com/2026/03/23/n...
Same as when there was "almost no" abuse material being shared, so what's the big deal?
Early career PIs are *obviously* coming off postdocs during which they faced simultaneous challenges of bureaucracy, budgeting, hiring, teaching, and sciencing.
No reason to encourage a gradual expansion of their labs with NCE as a backstop if they need a bridge to next grant(s).
/sarcasm
Great work! Kristina is one of the best of us!!!
