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Rebekah Evans @cellularscale.bsky.social · 10h

Wow! Fascinating work, congratulations!

Rebekah Evans @cellularscale.bsky.social · Aug 21

One fascinating thing that we found while revising this paper was that the dopaminergic neuron of the SNc project to the PPN and stimulating their axons locally in the PPN evokes reward-like behaviors!

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Rebekah Evans @cellularscale.bsky.social · Aug 21

The nigral input was really really strong to one particular cell type though, and we are planning to follow up this paper with a deeper dissection of those specific cells.

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Rebekah Evans @cellularscale.bsky.social · Aug 21

We found that the pallidal input only connected to 2 out of the 6 cell types, but the nigral input went to essentially every single PPN cell!

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Rebekah Evans @cellularscale.bsky.social · Aug 21

Using electrophysiology and optogenetics, we tested the connections of each inhibitory input to each of 6 different PPN cell types. This was a huge amount of work conducted by a recently graduated PhD student, Dr. Michel Fallah.

Rebekah Evans @cellularscale.bsky.social · Aug 21

From previous work, we knew that the PPN has many different cell types that have distinct functions, so we hypothesized that the two inhibitory inputs would be inhibiting different cell types.

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Rebekah Evans @cellularscale.bsky.social · Aug 21

In addition, one inhibitory connection (pallidal) reduces movement, while the other (nigral) does not change locomotion.

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Rebekah Evans @cellularscale.bsky.social · Aug 21

Excited to share our Version of Record in eLife! We find that two ways of inhibiting a brainstem structure (PPN) actually result in completely different and even opposite behaviors. One inhibitory connection is rewarding and one is aversive.

Inhibitory basal ganglia nuclei differentially innervate pedunculopontine nucleus subpopulations and evoke differential motor and valence behaviors

The substantia nigra inhibits all PPN neurons and causes place aversion, while the globus pallidus selectively inhibits caudal non-cholinergic PPN neurons and causes place preference.

elifesciences.org

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Aug 14

I have a first serious attempt to estimate the consequences of multi-year funding for July.

For new R01s, the amount of additional expenditure was

$135 M

The number of additional R01s that could have been funded is

182

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a man in a shirt and tie is touching his forehead

ALT: a man in a shirt and tie is touching his forehead

media.tenor.com

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Dr Sian Gramates @drglam.bsky.social · Aug 11

I just got the notice that all the FlyBase people at Harvard, including me, will be laid off on October 12. I'm devastated.

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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · Jul 29

"It’s like taking over a hospital and making the surgeons break bones instead of fix them, like suddenly requiring your engineering firm to use 'three' in place of pi, like telling a three-star chef her new goal is to make all the patrons puke."

EPA Leadership Is So, So Proud of Its Ignorance

Splinter is your home for news and opinions that challenge power in our political and economic system that's becoming more unhinged each and every day.

www.splinter.com

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Jul 17

My quote of the day

A Video Quote

Medical miracles don't happen overnight. You have to invest in them. Our investments are in trouble.

(From Francis Collins on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, July 16, 2025)

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Le Neuro (Institut-Hôpital neurologique de Montréal) @theneuro.bsky.social · Jul 15

Happy 107th Birthday, Brenda Milner! Her contributions to neuropsychology shaped the way we understand the human brain. From surviving two world wars and two pandemics, to paving the way for future generations of researchers, Milner’s legacy continues. @mcgill.ca @cusm-muhc.bsky.social

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Parkinson's Foundation Research @pfresearchteam.bsky.social · Jun 13

We were honored to attend the 2025 Parkinson’s Disease Gordon Conference in Waterville Valley, NH. It was wonderful to bring together some of the best and brightest scientists to discuss the most exciting developments in PD research, including many of our own awardees and SAB members!

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Bita Moghaddam @bita137.bsky.social · Jun 10

This is worse than many appreciate because it is not merely a delay. Many institutions such as mine are TERMINATING these otherwise active grants if the NoA is delayed by more than a month because they cannot afford to keep the grant supported personnel on payroll

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Jun 9

If you weren't angry enough already, here are the rates of non-competitive renewals through May.

4008 Non-competitive renewals were due to be funded in May.

The total funded was 99!

Some is due to terminations, but most is due to slow grant making due to DOGE review and other impediments.

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · Jun 4

NYT, Page One:

“Within hours, he had an email from China, offering to move his lab to ‘any city, any university I want,’ he said, with a guarantee of funding for the next 20 years.”

@nytimes.com

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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · Jun 5

Senate hearing on the FY26 NIH budget with Jay Bhattacharya
June 10, 10am ET
www.appropriations.senate.gov/hearings/a-r...

A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request for the National Institutes of Health | United States Senate Committee on Appropriations

United States Senate Committee on Appropriations

www.appropriations.senate.gov

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · Jun 3

If you burn down a forest, you don't miss out on lumber for just that season. You have to replant all the trees, nurture them, and wait for them to grow.

The science and research budget cuts happening now are wanton, senseless arson. Recovery, if it ever happens, will take generations.

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christine liu @christineliu.art · May 29

Trump’s cuts to research programs directly harms scientists from working class backgrounds.

Bridges built between the blue collar and ivory tower are collapsing in front of us.

Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · May 29

“You work so hard to put yourself in a position where you don’t have to worry, and then that’s taken away from you,” said Camila Valderrama-Martínez...She can get a job, but that “takes away time from my research and my time in lab and focusing on my studies and my thesis.” 🧪

Another casualty of Trump cuts? California students pursuing science research careers

At least 24 UC and Cal State campuses lost science research training grants that provided their students with annual stipends of $12,000 or more.

calmatters.org

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Michael Baym @baym.lol · May 24

I appreciate the offers from other scientists to help Harvard (students, labs, etc) through this attack, but what would be most helpful is for you to use your position to contact your elected representatives and make it clear this fight isn't just Harvard, it will affect you, and their districts too

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · May 23

Am I crazy or did we just have a convo about how we can't fund cancer research?

Senator Marsha Blackburn tweets: "We're going to build a big, beautiful Golden Dome."

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · May 20

REMINDER.....REMINDER......REMINDER

3 DAYS LEFT TO COMMENT ON SCHEDULE F

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gumball and anais from the amazing world of gumball are sitting at a table

ALT: gumball and anais from the amazing world of gumball are sitting at a table

media.tenor.com

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · May 20

That’s a plan to reclassify tens of thousands of government jobs as “policymaking positions” and therefore subject to presidential appointment and removal of those who occupy these positions.

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Senator Bernie Sanders @sanders.senate.gov · May 16

Donald Trump cut funding for cancer research by 31% in the first three months of his term.

This is an attack on every American family who has loved someone with cancer.

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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · May 13

"Women are PIs on 58% of the canceled grants, although they are PIs on only 34% of all active NSF grants.

Similarly, Blacks are PIs on 17% of the terminated grants, although they make only 4% of the total pool. Hispanic PIs and those with disabilities were twice as likely to lose a grant."

David Malakoff @davidmalakoff.bsky.social · May 13

Another scoop from Jeff Mervis (@policyhound.bsky.social): NSF's ~1400 grant terminations have disproportionately affected PIs from groups underrepresented in science: women, racial & ethnic minorities, & those with disabilities. 1/3
www.science.org/content/arti...

Trump officials take steps toward a radically different NSF

Efforts to shrink staff, budget, and focus have alarmed members of Congress

www.science.org

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