MRx technology promises not only faster scans, but deeper insights into the human brain 🧠. This major development in biomedical imaging can capture over 20 biomarkers in a single 14-minute scan. The Beckman Institute's Aaron Anderson explains how it works on WCIA News.

U of I team introduces technology that is transforming, improving brain imaging

YouTube video by WCIA News

youtube.com

Out today! A truly team effort and one of my favorite lab projects The findings connect NMDA/Grin2A malfunction to dopamine dynamics and related behaviors, and provide a futuristic model to develop and test "course altering" treatments for schizophrenia www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Grin2a knockout in adolescent dopamine neurons disrupts prediction error signaling and produces a phenotype relevant to schizophrenia - Molecular Psychiatry

Molecular Psychiatry - Grin2a knockout in adolescent dopamine neurons disrupts prediction error signaling and produces a phenotype relevant to schizophrenia

nature.com

New work in Nature from @beckmanillinois.bsky.social researchers describing a novel multiplexed MRI procedure that allows molecular characterization of brain from standard MRI machines! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Multiplexed magnetic resonance imaging - Nature

A new approach to magnetic resonance imaging, ‘multiplexed magnetic resonance imaging’, is reported, which enables high-resolution simultaneous multiparametric mapping of multiple molecules in standar...

nature.com

The Giardino Lab at Stanford is hiring a full-time post-bacc Research Assistant! If you know someone who is passionate about research and want to work at the intersection of stress, addiction, and sleep/wake neurobiology, have them apply here. careersearch.stanford.edu/jobs/life-sc...

1/6: Two faculty positions at the Noel Drury, M.D. Institute for Translational Depression Discoveries Delighted to announce that we have two faculty openings for the Noel Drury, M.D. Institute for Translational Depression Discoveries at UC Irvine. The submission deadline is June 15, 2026.

Nice story on our recent paper on locus coeruleus-amygdala circuits, stress, and extinction learning! Thanks to team including @samanthaplas.bsky.social, Hugo Bayer, Lara Ferst, Annalise Binette, and others! beckman.illinois.edu/news/article...

Fully wired: Beckman research study sheds light on fear, memory, stress and brain circuitry

beckman.illinois.edu

Was a great event and wonderful seeing you Keri—thanks @j9kwapis.bsky.social for inviting us!

Keri Martinowich@martinowk.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Kudos to @j9kwapis.bsky.social for organizing a great event for the Penn State CMIND retreat. I really appreciated the invitation and warm welcome! Honored to share work from our groups alongside speakers @stevemaren.bsky.social @rkcyuen.bsky.social. Great presentations from faculty and students 🧠🔬🧪

What an amazing legacy!

Beckman Institute at Illinois@beckmanillinois.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Ted Brown, professor of chemistry and founding director of the Beckman Institute, died on March 24, 2026. He was 97 years. In this 2016 video, Ted recalls the early days of creating one of the first interdisciplinary research facilities in the world. beckman.illinois.edu/news/article...

New paper alert 🚨— congrats to the team! link.growkudos.com/1ectqdilqm8

Stress undermines behavioral therapy from the bottom up

Behavioral therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder are negatively affected by stress. We show that brain areas involved in stress, emotion, and extinction learning are responsible for these adve...

link.growkudos.com

I was asked to do an impromptu "Ask an Expert" radio interview on memory manipulation as a therapeutic for PTSD and Alzheimer's. The topic was prompted by @okaysteve.bsky.social recent book. Have a listen if interested! www.audacy.com/podcast/kcbs...

@beckmanillinois.bsky.social Annual Report is out! The theme is built around a children’s book our team wrote about curiosity, questions, and a young Arnold Beckman. We are working on making the book more widely available, but for now enjoy the report! beckman.illinois.edu/news/annual-...

🚨Applications are now open for 2026 @beckmanillinois.bsky.social Postdoctoral Fellowships! We provide 3 years of support ($63k/year) for candidates conducting interdisciplinary research with two or more Beckman faculty members. Please apply and RT! beckman.illinois.edu/opportunitie...

Lots of amazing science happening at Beckman! Whether your interests are in molecules or minds, you will be amazed by our innovative, interdisciplinary research. Give us a follow to learn about our latest news, events, and employment and fellowship opportunities!!🔸🔬🧠🧪🔹 @beckmanillinois.bsky.social

Ted’s Café at the Beckman Institute ✅ Complete renovation ✅ Glass walls and welcoming décor ✅ New chef and menu ✅ New dining room 🩷 Ribbon cutting today!!! beckman.illinois.edu/teds-cafe/be...

Beckman is on Bluesky! If you want to see what we're all about, check out our 2023-2024 annual report. 🔷🔶 Its stories showcase how Beckman research serves real people, including athletes, educators, students and surgeons. 🤝 go.beckman.illinois.edu/annualreport

Isn’t it weird that 27 years of important behavioral neuroscience work published from 1973-2000 in Psychobiology has been disappeared because it isn’t on PubMed? That’s 100s of papers that the field has no knowledge of….

Yes, I am on the academic job market looking to start my own lab at the intersection of molecular, computational, and systems neuroscience! If you think my work may be interest to your department, please don't hesitate to reach out. Thank you, Keri!

Keri Martinowich@martinowk.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Congrats Michael! Really appreciate the brilliance & creativity you brought to the analyses and as always, sincere dedication to open science 🧪 🧠 @mictott.bsky.social is on the job market!! Amazing skillset spanning wet lab/computational at molecular, cellular + systems level - and across species!

Congrats Michael! Really appreciate the brilliance & creativity you brought to the analyses and as always, sincere dedication to open science 🧪 🧠 @mictott.bsky.social is on the job market!! Amazing skillset spanning wet lab/computational at molecular, cellular + systems level - and across species!

Michael Totty@mictott.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Very excited to share my second postdoc, now out in Science Advances! We used targeted snRNA-seq to profile four major subnuclei of the primate across three species (including humans). 1/13 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🚨New paper🚨 Excited to share this collaborative paper exploring nucleus reuniens correlates of fear conditioning in both rats and humans! Congrats @tugcettuna @F_Mourao_ @MicTott Muhammad Badarnee and Moh Milad!! rdcu.be/eyTPs

Associative coding of conditioned fear in the thalamic nucleus reuniens in rodents and humans

Communications Biology - The nucleus reuniens encodes associative value in both humans and rats. In rats, it also tracks defensive freezing states. The reuniens has a conserved role across species...

rdcu.be

Hot off the presses: www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06... "Trump administration cuts to National Institutes of Health grants are illegal, a judge rules." #ScienceIsDefiance

Trump Administration Live Updates: Judge Rules N.I.H. Grant Cuts Illegal, Orders Funds Restored

nytimes.com

I urge everyone to read Unbreaking’s new page on everything the govt is doing to destroy & diminish medical research funding. It’s the best thing I’ve read on this topic: @lizneeley.bsky.social & co have such done an incredible job. unbreaking.org/issues/medic...

Medical Research Funding — Unbreaking

How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.

unbreaking.org

🚨New paper alert! 🚨 Inactivation of the nucleus reuniens causes relapse of extinguished fear. Here we show this “circuit-induced relapse” depends on hippocampal fear memories and is mediated by hippocampal engrams. Congrats to the team!

Hippocampal ensembles regulate circuit-induced relapse of extinguished fear

Molecular Psychiatry - Hippocampal ensembles regulate circuit-induced relapse of extinguished fear

urldefense.com

Wonderful review and happy to contribute!

Bertoglio lab (FMC/UFSC)@bertogliolab.bsky.social · last yr.

➡️ Delighted to contribute to this piece on the mechanisms underlying memory reconsolidation and persistence, together with Hugo Bayer, Cristina Stern and @stevemaren.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This marks my first-author contribution as part of the Maren Lab team! Our findings shed new light on the mechanisms underlying context-dependent extinction of learned fear. Huge thanks to @stevemaren.bsky.social , Tugce tuna, and @mictott.bsky.social for teamwork. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Hippocampal-prelimbic coupling during context-dependent extinction retrieval in rats

After fear conditioning, repeated presentation of the conditioned stimulus (CS) alone produces a context-dependent extinction of learned fear. The hippocampus has a critical role in this process, but ...

biorxiv.org

Excellent review 👍👏 that highlights historical evidence and explores recent advancements in memory encoding research, and examines how dysfunction in ensemble coding may contribute to PTSD @stevemaren.bsky.social www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S000...

Integrating Aversive Memories in the Basolateral Amygdala

Decades of research have established a critical role of the basolateral complex of the amygdala (BLA) in the encoding and storage of aversive memories. Much of this work utilizes Pavlovian fear condit...

biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com

Good news at last; no less than 9 weeks after the budget end date, I finally received the NOA for the noncompeting continuation. What a relief!

Steve Maren@stevemaren.bsky.social · last yr.

Still waiting...

Very excited to share the last bit of my PhD work with @stevemaren.bsky.social! In collaboration with Mohammad Milad's group, we conducted neural recordings of the thalamic nucleus reuniens in rodents and humans across fear conditioning and extinction. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Still waiting...

Steve Maren@stevemaren.bsky.social · last yr.

Now about 5 weeks without the noncompeting renewal. Anyone else in limbo?

For those still wondering…still no NOA for a noncompeting continuation after close to two months now (Feb 1)

Steve Maren@stevemaren.bsky.social · last yr.

Now about 5 weeks without the noncompeting renewal. Anyone else in limbo?

NIH dollars still not flowing to UIUC--only 7 awards since February 1, zero since Mar 1. I still have no word on a Feb 1 noncompeting and shaking my fist at the sky appears not to be working 😂