Me before my daughter was born: No one in academia needs to know when I have a child lest it impact my career negatively. Me now: Person I just met! Have I told you about my extremely adorable daughter???

I am excited to share that I will be opening my lab as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacological Sciences at Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine, beginning in March 2027. @stonybrooku.bsky.social @stonybrookmedicine.bsky.social www.prakash-lab.org

Nature research paper: Astrocytes connect specific brain regions through plastic networks go.nature.com/4eBe8fV

Astrocytes connect specific brain regions through plastic networks - Nature

Communication between distant brain regions is mediated by plastic networks of gap junction-coupled astrocytes.

go.nature.com

Astrocytes do so much more than any of us thought - they even communicate among specific brain regions across hemispheres! The journey to this paper spanned nearly a decade, but I'm most excited to see what everyone else does with the tools we've built. There's so much for all of us to explore!

Astrocytes connect specific brain regions through plastic networks - Nature

Communication between distant brain regions is mediated by plastic networks of gap junction-coupled astrocytes.

nature.com

1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken. Hundreds of kids are still detained. We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵

Brown and Rhode Island are my home- where I met my husband and friends for life and became a scientist. So much that is good in my life comes from there. It doesn’t have to be this way.

@sfn.org #SfN25 #SanDiego starts this Saturday. The lab is going to be there in full force - see our presentations below. Represented this year by @borderbiologist.bsky.social, Nick Kathman, @mrodea.bsky.social, @melcooperphd.bsky.social, @pryprk.bsky.social, @kerrylimberg.bsky.social. (1/2)

I am proud to share our work on X-linked Dystonia-Parkinsonism — a rare neurodegenerative movement disorder driven by a SINE-VNTR-Alu retrotransposon insertion in the TAF1 gene. Read our two companion papers: 🔹 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🔹 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵 Highlights below!

🚨Please share! We are hiring a post-doc! 🪱 🐀 Job posting: www.training.nih.gov/jobs/pdf-gb-... Lab Website: www.niddk.nih.gov/research-fun... NIH Trainee info: www.training.nih.gov

Some of the coolest work I’ve ever been a (small) part of from @melcooperphd.bsky.social - it is a joy to be “in network” with you!

bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · last yr.

Astrocytes connect specific brain regions through plastic gap junctional networks https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.18.665573v1

Happy to share that our work "Amyloid-β induces lipid droplet-mediated microglial dysfunction via the enzyme DGAT2 in Alzheimer’s disease" is out now @cp-immunity.bsky.social! ➡️ www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

Amyloid-β induces lipid droplet-mediated microglial dysfunction via the enzyme DGAT2 in Alzheimer’s disease

Why microglia stop reducing amyloid deposits from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brains is unknown. Prakash, Manchanda, et al. show that microglia increase their lipid droplets and lose their phagocytic cap...

cell.com

Our new work on astrocyte responses in glaucoma is out today! A tour de force of tissue clearing and analysis by @melcooperphd.bsky.social. It's one of those stories that leads to even more great questions, so stay tuned!

Our paper on the superficial glia limitans is now published - huge thank you to all co-authors that helped getting this work across the finish line! www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Defining the molecular identity and morphology of glia limitans superficialis astrocytes in vertebrates

Hasel et al. show that molecularly and morphologically specialized astrocytes make up the brain and spinal cord surface, thereby creating the glia limitans superficialis. These astrocytes selectively ...

cell.com

Excited to share our review on astrocyte aging, out today! Hopefully the only Friday surprises this week are Liddelow lab publications! 🧪 #neuroskyence @liddelowsa.bsky.social

Mechanisms of astrocyte aging in reactivity and disease - Molecular Neurodegeneration

Normal aging alters brain functions and phenotypes. However, it is not well understood how astrocytes are impacted by aging, nor how they contribute to neuronal dysfunction and disease risk as organis...

molecularneurodegeneration.biomedcentral.com

The average person with the flu gives it to around 1.4 people. The average person with measles gives it to between 12 and 18 people.

WHO@who.int · last yr.

Measles cases continue to surge globally, putting millions of children at risk. More than 10 million people globally were infected with measles in 2023, a 20% increase from the previous year. bit.ly/48SAtkf

When I said “science is over we can all go home” it was a JOKE! I was KIDDING! 😭😭😭😭

Contact your representatives using this link! An easy way to take action

Society for Neuroscience@sfn.org · last yr.

🔗 Contact your representatives using SfN’s Action Alert Center: bit.ly/413khdN #NeuroSky

Happy #BlackHistoryMonth! ✨ They’ll never be able to take away the impact and contributions of Black scientists, no matter how hard they try. So each week this month, I’ll be highlighting a few #BlackInNeuro scientists for you to learn about, celebrate their work, & follow 👩🏾‍🔬👨🏽‍🔬

I was a public school free lunch kid in a SNAP family who went to college on Pell grants & work study. My graduate education was funded by an NIH T32, the NSF GRFP, and an NIH F99, the K00 portion of which still funds me as a postdoc! I quite literally would not be here without federal funding.

If you have been affected by the fires in LA, or are concerned about your ability to keep precious Drosophila strains going during the latest funding crisis, we will host your strains as a backup. Please email me. Please amplify. If you are also able to host fly strains, add your name as well.

Are you a scientist or science policy expert who's feeling a little nervous about federal research funding, as the next administration prepared to take over? I want to hear from you. [reposting would be greatly appreciated!] #neuroskyence #medsky #academicsky

Highly recommend submitting session ideas for SfN 2025! I had an excellent time chairing a minisymposium this past year, and it was both a great opportunity and a perfect way to hear all of the talks I personally wanted to hear! Deadline for this year is Jan 22 @sfn.org

Worm people: We are looking for a postdoc to join the C. elegans Mentor Match committee. This is a great opportunity to shape a global mentorship program and gain leadership experience. 📩 DM or email me and Andrea Calixto if interested—and please spread the word! 🙌

Receiving high-quality, attentive, productive feedback from reviewers: 🤩😍🥳 Actually incorporating said feedback: 😭

Congrats to Cory Pender of @dillinlab.bsky.social for this work out today! The mechanism ended up being both super cool and unexpected, and it was a joy to be involved with!

Perception of a pathogenic signature initiates intergenerational protection

Transmission of immune responses from one generation to the next represents a powerful adaptive mechanism to protect an organism’s descendants. Parent…

sciencedirect.com

Happy to share our review on how different lipids shape microglial biology in #GLIA journal. 💫 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... 👉🏽with Gaurav Chopra, Caitlin Randolph, and @katherinewalker.bsky.social

Lipids: Emerging Players of Microglial Biology

Lipids are crucial in mediating microglial metabolism and function. The microglial lipidome is vast and complex, with over 10,000 lipid species. We discuss key lipid classes and their roles in m...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Very glad that everyone finally made the switch from the bird site so that I can finally find important papers I desperately need to read while procrastinating again!

immense respect to this science teacher for seeing his opportunity and grabbing onto it with both hands

I thought this would go without saying but perhaps don't use different quality control standards for different conditions that you are directly comparing 🫠