I'm SO excited to have this out in the world!!!! Check out our latest work on the contribution of the anterior hypothalamic nucleus to stress sensitivity and valence processing.

Denise J. Cai, Ph.D.@denisejcai.bsky.social · 5d ago

NEW: The anterior hypothalamic nucleus acts like a volume knob for stress, scaling the brain’s response to threatening events 🧠 Read the Cai Lab's latest paper, led by @zachtpennington.bsky.social, in @nature.com 🎉 www.nature.com/articles/s41... More: bsky.app/profile/did:...

I'm honoured to be among this incredible group of scientists and immensely grateful for the support of @braincanada.bsky.social, which will allow my lab to address fundamental questions about how reward memories can be so long-lasting, influencing mental health conditions like addiction.

Brain Canada@braincanada.bsky.social · 2w ago

Brain Canada is thrilled to announce the new cohort of Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research. This year, 26 researchers join this growing community, and each receive $100,000. 🎉 Congratulations to the recipients! Find out more about this year’s Future Leaders ➡️ braincanada.ca/about/news-u...

Congratluations to Drs. Stan Floresco (@psych.ubc.ca) and David Metzer (@ubcmusic.bsky.social) for being named as Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada 👏 @src-rsc.bsky.social Learn more about both Dr. Floresco and Dr. Metzer and this achievement ⬇️

Two Arts faculty members elected to the Royal Society of Canada - Faculty of Arts

Two Arts faculty members, Dr. Stanley Floresco and Dr. David Metzer, have been elected Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada.

arts.ubc.ca

We’ve got a 3d printer and we know how to use it.

My lab is ALSO recruiting a new postdoc to work on an exciting NIH-funded project. Start date ideally by early 2027. Please share with any recent or soon-to-defend neuro/psych PhDs with experience in rodent labs. northeastern.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/careers/job/...

Congratulations to Dr. Hee Yeon Im, Dr. @zachtpennington.bsky.social, Dr. @rosieshrout.bsky.social, and Dr. @milanium.bsky.social who received research infrastructure support from @innovation.ca's John R. Evans Leaders Fund! Learn more: psych.ubc.ca/news/jelf-20...

Four psychology researchers awarded CFI’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund - UBC Department of Psychology

The JELF enables universities to attract and retain world-class research talent by providing the state-of-the-art infrastructure researchers need to succeed.

psych.ubc.ca

Hi Folks, with @lisataxier.bsky.social moving on to open her own lab at Stony Brook, I am in the market for a new postdoctoral fellow who wants to do slice electrophysiology. We have a number of really exciting projects, translational to basic science, that are ephys focused.

Interesting article in @washingtonpost.com today on cannabis and sleep that I was interviewed for along with friends and colleagues Nicole Bowles and Ryan Vandrey. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

The new science of cannabis and sleep

Research suggests cannabis suppresses REM sleep, raising questions about memory, emotion and the purpose of dreams.

washingtonpost.com

🎉 Please join us in welcoming Dr. Richard Roth to UHN’s @krembilresearch! Dr. Roth joins us as a Scientist, focusing on the interplay between synaptic plasticity and neural circuit adaptation, and how these processes shape motor learning.    🔗 Learn more about his research: www.motor-plasticity.org

New postdoc opening in Carl Johnson’s lab at Vanderbilt on our newly awarded BRAIN Initiative project. The work will develop BRET/luminescence approaches for in vivo monitoring of neural activity in freely behaving mice, in collaboration with Princeton and UCLA. Contact Carl or myself for details

🤔 Why does prior stress make future stress hit harder? In new work led by @zachtpennington.bsky.social, the Cai Lab discovered a brain circuit that controls stress vulnerability, reshaping how the brain reacts to the next stressor. I'll be speaking about at @fens.org. Come check it out!

Are you a senior postdoc with a complete scientific story to tell? Apply for our Yale Molecular Psychiatry MAPS program and tell us about your work at our weekly neuroscience seminar series. PLEASE REPOST!

Meet Dr. Hao-Ting Wang, a new Assistant Professor in Data Science in UBC's Department of Psychiatry. Her research is focused on combining cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging and machine learning, with a focus on neurodegeneration and mental health.

New faculty member Dr. Hao-Ting Wang connects brain data to real life - Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health | DMCBH

For the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health’s (DMCBH) newest member, Dr. Hao-Ting Wang, the path into neuroscience has been shaped less by a fixed

centreforbrainhealth.ca

Congrats to @zachtpennington.bsky.social on receiving the 2026 William & Nona Heaslip–Banting Discovery Award for his work analyzing the brain’s emotion‑related circuits! This award will support his research in identifying novel treatment targets for anxiety disorders.

Dr. Zachary Pennington receives Banting Discovery Award - Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health | DMCBH

Congratulations to Dr. Zachary Pennington, an Assistant Professor in UBC’s Department of Psychology and researcher at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for

centreforbrainhealth.ca

New preprint from the lab. @markgergues.bsky.social and crew show that the PVT gates ventral hippocampal salience coding, shifting output between threat- and reward-weighted representations during associative learning and anxiety-related behavior. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

🎉Save the date! Black In Neuro Week 2026 is July 27–Aug 2. We're celebrating our 6th annual BIN Week with returning favorites like #NeuroRacism, #NeuroAcrossTheDiaspora, and #BINRollCall plus a brand new theme: #BlackInTime. ✨ 🧠 #BINW26 #AReimaginedFuture

Thrilled to share my main postdoctoral work out @nature.com ! This project tackles a fundamental question: how do pregnancy and postpartum experiences promote lifelong changes to the brain? www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Dopamine drives persistent remodelling of the maternal brain - Nature

Brain-wide transcriptomic profiling in mice reveals that reproductive experience remodels the maternal brain by altering dopamine dynamics in the dorsal hippocampal formation, causing dopamine-depende...

nature.com

the technician position in my lab is now posted! Please pass this along: unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/319...

Woo!!!!!! PenningtonLab.com is live!

Pennington Lab

penningtonlab.com

Lineup, including trainee talks, is all set for this year's Neural Circuits and Behaviour Satellite at @canacn.bsky.social, co-hosted with @franklandlab.bsky.social . One week away, with a few tickets remaining for anyone interested! www.eventbrite.com/e/neural-cir...

Full band in the studio this summer! LP coming soon.

Join us in Paris this summer for our #Miniscope Workshop 🔬 We'll teach you everything you need to know about miniscopes and have a blast while we're at it! Applications close on May 22, so don't wait 👇

UCLA Miniscope Project@miniscope.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Applications open for 2026 Paris Miniscope Workshop! July 1-3, hosted at ESPCI. Apply here: forms.gle/4CWh7MeMchLS...

'The subiculum: cell-type-specific composition, computation, and function' by Adrienne Kinman @adriennekinman.bsky.social, Larissa Kraus & Mark Cembrowski @markcembrowski.bsky.social www.cell.com/trends/neuro...

We’re really excited to announce our next international, hands-on #Miniscope workshop covering everything from microscope design to experiments to analysis! Applications are now open for the 2026 Paris Miniscope Workshop (July 1–3, ESPCI). Apply by May 22: forms.gle/4CWh7MeMchLS...

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...

Where U.S. science has been hit hardest after Trump’s first year

The Trump administration has slashed the number of grants from the National Institutes of Health, with far fewer focused on women, cancer and mental health.

washingtonpost.com

Trainee going to CAN? Check out the Circuits & Behaviour satellite and apply for this amazing opportunity!! Register here by April 24 for full consideration: www.eventbrite.ca/e/neural-cir...

Neural Circuits and Behaviour CAN 2026 Satellite Meeting

The third-annual CAN satellite event, bringing together Canadian neuroscientists studying circuits and behaviour.

eventbrite.ca

mark cembrowski@markcembrowski.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Trainees attending @canacn.bsky.social 2026 Meeting - @franklandlab.bsky.social and I are co-hosting the Circuits & Behaviour satellite and seeking 4 trainee speakers (one of whom will receive a $500 "Best Talk" prize). Register by next Friday for consideration: www.eventbrite.ca/e/neural-cir...

What drives us to act and when do we stop? Dr. Milan Valyear (@milanium.bsky.social) is a new @psych.ubc.ca faculty member studying the brain circuits behind reinforcement and disengagement. From childhood tinkering to cutting-edge neuroscience, his work is all about curiosity and discovery.

Meet Dr. Milan Valyear, a new researcher who is exploring the science of behaviour - Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health | DMCBH

Growing up in a small town in Ontario, Dr. Milan Valyear always enjoyed tinkering and building things, and in particular, one memory stands out. “It was

centreforbrainhealth.ca

Exploring beautiful Vancouver with new friends 😎 @milanium.bsky.social @taracdelorme.bsky.social

ACNP Travel Award Applications open on Monday, April 6, 2026. For more information, visit tinyurl.com/5bzaz8va #ACNP2027 #travelawards

Meet @zachtpennington.bsky.social, a new researcher at the DMCBH and @psych.ubc.ca who is exploring how the brain regulates stress and emotion. He is also an advocate of building open-source tools to make science more accessible for all. Read more: www.centreforbrainhealth.ca/news/from-sk...

From skateparks to synapses: Meet Dr. Zach Pennington - Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health | DMCBH

When Dr. Zach Pennington was growing up, he never imagined he would become a scientist. “I wanted to be a professional skateboarder, a guitarist in a punk

centreforbrainhealth.ca