Nice break-down of a mechanism for attention to boost activity in neocortex (via basal forebrain projections). From @kepecslab.bsky.social and crew: www.cell.com/cell/abstrac... #neuroscience 🧪
A disinhibitory basal forebrain-to-cortex projection supports sustained attention
A long-range inhibitory projection from the basal forebrain disinhibits the cortex to amplify sensory responses. This circuit encodes motivational salience and predicts moment-to-moment attentional pe...
cell.com
Interesting take! Agree AI kills homework-as-proof and take-home exams. But I don't see how that leads to optimistic unbundling. Schools could pivot to authentic assessment/competency transcripts...
Sam Gershman@gershbrain.bsky.social · 8mo agoIn this scenario, far fewer people go to college. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. The current situation invites us to imagine what it would be like to unbundle aspects of college that aren't intrinsically linked.
Congrats, @analog-ashley.bsky.social and Victor Magdaleno-Garcia on publishing nwb4edu in JOSE! 🎉 This interactive textbook teaches how to access, analyze, and visualize NWB data from @dandiarchive.org, w/ lessons recreating classic neuroscience figures nwb4edu.github.io doi.org/10.21105/jose.00309
nwb4edu.github.io
Be my neighbor! @rwjms.bsky.social Neuroscience is hiring! jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/258...
Assistant or Associate Professor (Tenured or Tenure-Track)
The Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS), the Rutgers Child Health Institute (CHI), and the Rutgers Brain Health Institute (BHI) seek appli...
jobs.rutgers.edu
Important topic, high potency THC is a different game.
Yasmin Hurd, PhD@neurovoice.bsky.social · last yr.The #cannabis landscape has changed. High THC concentrations in today's products have profound effects on the brain 🧠 I spoke with Doug Bopst on The Adversity Advantage about the risks of cannabis consumption. #Neuroskyence 🎧 Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/bb/podcast/c...
We worked so well as a team for the #GRCPsychedelics @vyazovskiy.bsky.social @viditavaidya.bsky.social @melissaherman.bsky.social and congrats to @theborislab.bsky.social and @mikaelpalner.bsky.social, who will be the future vice-chairs!
Meet Area Postrema!
Biomedical Picture of the Day BPoD@bpodaily.bsky.social · last yr.Cancer muscle wasting-associated apathy is result of tumour-induced inflammation & brain circuitry interaction 📷 Xiaoyue Aelita Zhu & Sarah Starosta et al @kepecslab.bsky.social Pignatelli lab, Janowitz lab Washington Uni St L, in @science.org ➡️ bpod.org.uk/archive/2025... + @rooph.bsky.social
I will fly to anywhere in the United States on my own dime to talk to people about basic science! I encourage all of you, particularly senior scientists to make this commitment. If you are looking for material ask @karalmarshall.bsky.social She has put together an amazing basic talk!
Gord Fishell@gordfishell.bsky.social · last yr.OK inspired by @karalmarshall.bsky.social I am reaching out to the public where ever I can. Traditionally Republicans have been incredibly supportive of science. We as scientists need to reach out to people across the spectrum to rally their support for basic science!
Given all that is going on consider this quote from Bertram Russell's 1930 book The conquest of Happiness: “The man who can be interested in the structure of atoms or the way in which a beetle navigates, is likely to get a joy in life which no amount of success in the pursuit of power can give. ”
1/ Why do patients with late-stage cancer lose motivation & sink into apathy? 🔥 Our new Science paper shows chronic inflammation activates a cytokine-sensing brain circuit that lowers motivation. Huge team effort: Aelita Zhu, Sarah Starosta, Pignatelli & Janowitz labs! 🧵 🔗 doi.org/10.1126/scie...
A neuroimmune circuit mediates cancer cachexia-associated apathy
Cachexia, a severe wasting syndrome associated with inflammatory conditions, often leads to multiorgan failure and death. Patients with cachexia experience extreme fatigue, apathy, and clinical depres...
doi.org
I graduated high school in 1990. For this year's graduates, this music is to them what 60's music was to me when I was their age. Wild.
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2y agoHappy b’day to R.E.M’s classic LP “Out of Time”, released 34 years ago today. “The guys would give me pieces of music that were so ebullient and bubblegum,” Michael Stipe said, “that I’d be like, ‘OK, I accept your challenge and I raise you — we’re going to call THIS one ‘Shiny Happy People.’” 🙏🏼
We’ve created a new field called “chronogenetics”: controlling gene expression with the cell’s internal clock! Lara Pferdehirt & Anna Damato made living implants that sync to the body & automatically deliver biological drugs on a 24 hr cycle. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Important work by my colleagues @robgereau.bsky.social & team! A new non-opioid chronic pain treatment, a peripherally restricted CB1 agonist without psychoactivity or tolerance.
Robert Gereau@robgereau.bsky.social · 2y agoExcited to present the result of a fantastic collaborative effort - funded by the National Institutes of Health, including the NIH HEAL Initiative, to develop safer analgesic drugs. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Congrats to @michellemonje.bsky.social and F Winkler on the Brain Prize! Well deserved recognition for groundbreaking work in cancer neuroscience! Such a cool field, exciting, with important implications for disease and just getting started!
The Brain Prize@brainprize.org · 2y agoCongratulations to winners of The Brain Prize 2025! Professors @michellemonje.bsky.social, @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social and @hhmi.org Investigator, and Frank Winkler, Heidelberg University Hospital, have pioneered the field of Cancer Neuroscience. Learn more: brainprize.org/winners/canc...
Congratulations to Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton on the well-deserved Turing Award! Their groundbreaking work in reinforcement learning has had an enormous impact across AI, neuroscience, robotics, and beyond. The ripple effects are still unfolding!
Rodney Brooks@rodneyabrooks.bsky.social · 2y agoThe 2024 Turing Prize winners announced this morning: Barto & Sutton for "developing the conceptual and algorithmic foundations of reinforcement learning". Well deserved. Built on 1959 Donald Michie's idea; matchboxes and colored beads learning tic-tac-toe. awards.acm.org/about/2024-t...
Having funded teams/contracts that required six figure+ funds a few times now, these numbers SOUND really huge in isolation to normal folks but they're not! Don't make floating numbers! I like to say things like this: "A cancer lab is basically a small business, with many jobs created by each grant"
Katie Hinde@mammalssuck.bsky.social · 2y agoEarth & Life Sciences Academics communicating the new EO about indirect rates, imma need you to improve yer messaging- maybe don't say "If I get a million dollar grant, my uni gets another $700k to keep the lights on & water running" bc isn't going to get the traction you think it is-
Project 2025: 🔹 Break NIH’s monopoly on research direction 🔹 Shift NIH grant funding to states via block grants 🔹 Keep NIH funding, but at a reduced, “modest” level Buckle up!!
Kepecs Lab @ WashU@kepecslab.bsky.social · 2y agoDoing some light bedtime reading on Project 2025 for what’s ahead: "The NIH monopoly on directing research should be broken. Congress should consider block granting NIH’s grants budget to states to fund their own scientific research.... doesn't preclude more modest federal funding through NIH."
Doing some light bedtime reading on Project 2025 for what’s ahead: "The NIH monopoly on directing research should be broken. Congress should consider block granting NIH’s grants budget to states to fund their own scientific research.... doesn't preclude more modest federal funding through NIH."