Sorry dude. Weird mechanism

We're hiring a Research Assistant - Hope you'll consider applying if you're interested in a career in behavioral and/or addiction neuroscience!

Open to either BS or MS level candidates, ideally looking for 2+ years in this role.

Deadline is May 13.
careers.drexel.edu/cw/en-us/job...

a woman says everybody is invited in a crowded room Alt: a woman says everybody is invited in a crowded room

a lot of the feedback we received talked about how INCLUSIVE the meeting is, and that everyone loves that! Thanks we try hard, and for those that didn't exactly feel that way, we're going to try even harder next year! We definitely want to keep it that way, and you're all invited!

a cartoon of a mermaid saying `` i want more '' . Alt: Ariel the little mermaid saying `` i want more '' .

The scientific program it is what YOU make it (You are what you eat so to speak!) We get lots of feedback/some of it is contradictory ("there is too much addiction" "the substance [use] research portfolio seemed a bit low this year.") In general people want to see more of neuroscience represented!

a man talking to a woman with the words " i 'll start thinking on it now " below him Alt: a man talking to a woman with the words " i 'll start thinking on it now " below him

Number 2: as program chair for the 2027 and 2028 meetings, you're going to be hearing a lot from me this year. I will be asking you to submit panels and posters to come to #WCBR2027 in the not too distant future, so start thinking about these things NOW!

a woman is pointing at another person and saying `` thank you '' . Alt: Leslie Knope (Amy P.) is pointing and saying `` thank you '' .

Number 1: thank you to everyone who filled out the survey for the 2026 meeting. The whole board goes over it and we really appreciate the feed back! We want to make #WCBR the meeting that everyone wants to attend, and we do really try hard to make adjustments to make things better!

a man with a beard is standing in a park and talking to another man . Alt: Dr. Strange (I think) aka Bededict C. is saying "we need your help"

Just got off the #WCBR executive committee meeting. We're starting to plan things for #WCBR2027 and we need your help!

This rather cryptic tweet apparently refers to a plan to boot SROs off their study section and move them to another one if they’ve served “too long”. Unclear what interval will qualify for this movement. Domain expertise is apparently a bad thing.

As a reminder: I am hiring a postdoc and at least one research assistant for a project on VTA circuits and cognitive function that starts this summer. Get in touch if interested!

You think that with paying the open access fees they would have checked the title

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_...

Basolateral amygdala astrocytes encode anxiety states Ghenissa et al. provide evidence that basolateral amygdala astrocytes reliably encode anxiety states. Using simultaneous in vivo calcium recordings across an array of behavioral tasks, combined with g...

Incredibly proud of this paper led by @ossamaghenissa.bsky.social and @mathiasgua.bsky.social titled Basolateral 'Amygdala Astrocytes Encode Anxiety States'.
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
🧵 below

NIH finally releases some FY2025 success rate data In a new post tagged NIH Funding Blog, we see the first report on success rates, which for some reason has been absent from the Data Book up until now*, even as other FY2025 statistics have been in…

13% success rates for FY2025 grant awards.

NIH finally releases some FY2025 success rate data drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2026/03/18/n...

BREAKING: @delauro.house.gov announces at a House Oversight hearing with NIH director Jay Bhattacharya that OMB approved the agency's apportionment last night.

That means the agency should have access to its appropriated funds — 42 days after its spending bill passed.

Here are some of the apportionments that have come in:

- NIDDK, 200m for type 1 diabetes
- NIEHS, 80m for superfund research
- NIMH/NINDS, 115m from Cures Act
- Buildings and facilities, 2.5m
- ARPA-H's full apportionment

(2/2)

Update 3/16: A very small handful of NIH apportionments have come through — with big exceptions.

The ones that OMB has approved are all Congressionally mandated/earmarked. The broad discretionary funds that fund most NIH grants not yet been authorized.

(1/2)

A line graph showing the fraction of R01 applications funded as a function of percentile for NIMH. The estimated success rate for FY2024 was 20.4% compared with 10.0% for FY2025.

9/25

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.

UAB is recruiting neuroscience faculty at two different levels - come join our vibrant neuroscience community!

A neuromodulatory circuit-to-molecular pathway for reformatting aversive memories during recall Tan et al. identify a neuromodulatory circuit-to-molecular pathway in rats that updates aversive memories when they are recalled. Noradrenaline from the locus coeruleus triggers synapse-to-nuclear tra...

Excited to share our new paper:
We uncover a locus coeruleus→amygdala circuit linking β-adrenergic signaling to transcription regulation in defined amygdala cells during memory reconsolidation—+ stress or elevated noradrenergic signaling at recall can strengthen memory.
www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...

When someone says „Scientists do not want you to know“ you can dismiss everything from there on. Scientists want you to know. They are desperate that you know. They can’t shut up about what they found out and want you to know.

For extra reading about this issue, I recommend checking out the @centeronbudget.bsky.social report, "Trump Administration Abused Spending Safeguards to Advance Its Agenda — and Illegally Hid Its Actions"

You know it's bad when the whole case study about weaponizing apportionment is about NIH

Um this is not normal. Haven’t ever seen this in 10+ years in San Antonio

Preach. That’s why you then turn into a systems / behavior neuroscientist

$300 Million in jet planes lost to a fuckup.

That’s 83 five year NIH R01 grants burned in minutes due to error, aka poor execution of this unnecessary war which serves only to make the world more dangerous.

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets The US Congress rejected sweeping cuts to science agencies. But the NIH, the NSF and NASA have had their spending slowed.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

NIMH is not much better. Only 2 new grants in FY26

Line graph of the number new and competitive renewal grants funded by NIH in fiscal year 2026 through February 20, compared to fiscal years 2020-2025. The fiscal year 2026 is well below the other curves.

New and Competitive Renewals

Only 803 grants have been made compared to ~2650 in fiscal years 2023 and 2024 through February 20.

All institutes and centers (include OD now) have made awards except NIAAA, NLM, NCCIH, and FIC.

3/4

Dopamine Supports Reward Prediction to Shape Reward-Pursuit Strategy Reward predictions not only promote reward pursuit, they also shape how reward is pursed. Such predictions are supported by environmental cues that signal reward availability and probability. Such cue...

🚨📃New Wassum Lab Paper 📃🚨

Out today, Melissa Malvaez, Nick Griffin, Andrea Suarez & team discovered that dopamine can enable reward predictions to shape how we pursue reward.

Surprisingly, we find that dopamine can constrain instrumental reward seeking.

www.jneurosci.org/content/46/8...

🧵👇🏻

I am so proud to share @forrestdrogers.bsky.social’s postdoctoral magnum opus, now out in @nature.com! Forrest discovered a novel role for Agouti in the MPOA of the hypothalamus to integrate socio-environmental information to flexibly tune paternal behavior
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Thread! 👇🏻