Alex Chen
@alexbchen.bsky.social
PhD student @ Harvard with Florian Engert and HHMI Janelia with Misha Ahrens. Searching for the molecular, cellular, and circuit underpinnings of behavior.
Check out this article in @quantamagazine.bsky.social about how astrocytes influence neural activity, including our work from last year! www.quantamagazine.org/once-thought...
Once Thought To Support Neurons, Astrocytes Turn Out To Be in Charge | Quanta Magazine
New experiments reveal how astrocytes tune neuronal activity to modulate our mental and emotional states. The results suggest that neuron-only brain models, such as connectomes, leave out a crucial la...
quantamagazine.org
New Stars in Neural Circuits: Astrocytes Guide Brain State Changes 🧪🧠 #AcademicSky www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n... @alexbchen.bsky.social @marcduque.bsky.social @mishaahrens.bsky.social @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @dulaclab.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social @scinews.bsky.social
New Stars in Neural Circuits: Astrocytes Guide Brain State Changes - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology
Astrocytes, the most abundant non-neuronal cell type in the brain, have traditionally been thought of as passive supporters of neuronal circuits. However, in recent years, work from many […]
mcb.harvard.edu
✨Once thought to play a supporting function in the brain, new research led by @alexbchen.bsky.social & @mishaahrens.bsky.social shows non-neuronal astroglial cells perform a leading role in regulating the activity of neurons and their connections. 🧠 🔗 www.janelia.org/news/on-the-...
Astrocytes have long been conceived as passive support player cells in the brain. But today @science.org (via 3 reports) they got a big upgrade for their active role in neuromodulation and control of brain function www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Excited to share that the astrocyte-centered half of my thesis work is now out @science.org ! With @mishaahrens.bsky.social and @marcduque.bsky.social science.org/doi/10.1126/... 1/8
Norepinephrine changes behavioral state through astroglial purinergic signaling
Both neurons and glia communicate through diffusible neuromodulators; however, how neuron-glial interactions in such neuromodulatory networks influence circuit computation and behavior is unclear. Dur...
science.org
Excited that my co-first author manuscript is now published! Special shoutout to Xuelong Mi in Guoqiang Yu's group, who did all of the development of this fantastic tool, which I’ve applied to segment neuromodulatory and astroglial calcium signals. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Fast, accurate, and versatile data analysis platform for the quantification of molecular spatiotemporal signals
AQuA2 is a powerful data analysis platform that decomposes time-lapse imaging datasets into elementary signaling events, allowing for accurate quantification of spatiotemporal molecular activity patte...
cell.com
What a way to kick off our grad student NeuroMEETS series! Thank you @alexbchen.bsky.social for visiting and sharing your research into the mechanisms of behavioral switching during frustration and futility-induced giving up. 🔎 Want to learn how you can be part of NeuroMEETS? buff.ly/YG2udIf
