Matt Wanat
@mattjwanat.bsky.social
Nerding out to neuroscience since 2002. Studying the neurobiology of motivated behavior by day. Running, hiking, eating, and camping by night.
www.wanatlab.org
www.wanatlab.org
Pinned
Matt Wanat
@mattjwanat.bsky.social
· Jul 16
Estrous cycle stage gates the effect of stress on reward learning
Neuropsychopharmacology - Estrous cycle stage gates the effect of stress on reward learning
nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
Ever wonder how stress and the estrous cycle affects reward learning? Well we have answers for you in our paper led by @askaneuroscientist.bsky.social published in
@npp-journal.bsky.social
And huge thanks to the NIH and NSF who supported this research.
@npp-journal.bsky.social
And huge thanks to the NIH and NSF who supported this research.
Reposted by Matt Wanat
Updated guidance on NIH grant application due dates (10/1/2025-12/5/2025), along with some other Info. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
NOT-OD-26-012: Updated Guidance on Reopening of NIH Extramural Activities Following the October 1, 2025 - Lapse in Appropriations
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Updated Guidance on Reopening of NIH Extramural Activities Following the October 1, 2025 - Lapse in Appropriations NOT-...
grants.nih.gov
November 24, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Updated guidance on NIH grant application due dates (10/1/2025-12/5/2025), along with some other Info. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
Reposted by Matt Wanat
Notice of early expiration of NIH SBIR/STTR funding announcements.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
If anyone knows the backstory, please share.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
If anyone knows the backstory, please share.
NOT-OD-26-006: Notice of Early Expiration of NIH Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Notices of Funding Opportunity and Guidance for Existing Recipi...
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Notice of Early Expiration of NIH Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STT...
grants.nih.gov
November 19, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Notice of early expiration of NIH SBIR/STTR funding announcements.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
If anyone knows the backstory, please share.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
If anyone knows the backstory, please share.
Reposted by Matt Wanat
Thought now was as good a time as ever to join bsky - Excited to share a big part of my PhD work is finally published- 7+ years of experiments from a great team of people. Wishing I could be at #sfn2025 to celebrate with you guys! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cocaine seeking and consumption are oppositely regulated by mesolimbic dopamine in male rats - Nature Communications
Here authors demonstrate how opposing trajectories of dopamine transmission underlie changes in drug seeking and taking over chronic drug use. Increased dopamine to drug cues elevates craving, whereas...
www.nature.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Thought now was as good a time as ever to join bsky - Excited to share a big part of my PhD work is finally published- 7+ years of experiments from a great team of people. Wishing I could be at #sfn2025 to celebrate with you guys! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Uh, that is some bad news indeed
Just got an email from my SRO for the study section that was missed in October. Good news is that they are trying to reschedule ASAP (Dec/Jan). The bad news is that CSR is mandating that only the the top third (not half) of applications will get discussed for the next 2 rounds.
November 13, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Uh, that is some bad news indeed
Reposted by Matt Wanat
Awesome work by lead author Lauren Burgeno et al: Dopamine evoked by non-contingent cues increases over cocaine use, producing greater cue reactivity; whereas dopamine evoked by contingent cues decreases over cocaine use, producing escalation of drug consumption. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cocaine seeking and consumption are oppositely regulated by mesolimbic dopamine in male rats - Nature Communications
Here authors demonstrate how opposing trajectories of dopamine transmission underlie changes in drug seeking and taking over chronic drug use. Increased dopamine to drug cues elevates craving, whereas...
www.nature.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Awesome work by lead author Lauren Burgeno et al: Dopamine evoked by non-contingent cues increases over cocaine use, producing greater cue reactivity; whereas dopamine evoked by contingent cues decreases over cocaine use, producing escalation of drug consumption. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Matt Wanat
Excited to share new research from my lab in final published form! By deleting hypocretin (orexin) receptors from CRF neurons, we uncovered neuropeptide mechanisms linking alcohol drinking and negative emotional hyperarousal through BNST neuronal excitability.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 3, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Excited to share new research from my lab in final published form! By deleting hypocretin (orexin) receptors from CRF neurons, we uncovered neuropeptide mechanisms linking alcohol drinking and negative emotional hyperarousal through BNST neuronal excitability.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Matt Wanat
At no point can you accurately predict what will happen. I love it.
We live in a tumultuous world. But I take solace in the fact that the 2010 University of Alaska Fairbanks hockey intro video remains the most unhinged thing I’ve ever seen.
November 1, 2025 at 4:07 PM
At no point can you accurately predict what will happen. I love it.
Nothing is scarier than Reviewer #2
October 31, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Nothing is scarier than Reviewer #2
Reposted by Matt Wanat
ATTN: Two faculty positions are available in my department (neuroscience) at the University of Minnesota. This is a general search with no topic focus. November 20th application deadline.
Apply here: hr.umn.edu/jobs/Find-Job
Assistant Prof job code: 364920
Associate/Full Prof job code: 364921
Apply here: hr.umn.edu/jobs/Find-Job
Assistant Prof job code: 364920
Associate/Full Prof job code: 364921
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 PM
ATTN: Two faculty positions are available in my department (neuroscience) at the University of Minnesota. This is a general search with no topic focus. November 20th application deadline.
Apply here: hr.umn.edu/jobs/Find-Job
Assistant Prof job code: 364920
Associate/Full Prof job code: 364921
Apply here: hr.umn.edu/jobs/Find-Job
Assistant Prof job code: 364920
Associate/Full Prof job code: 364921
Reposted by Matt Wanat
Your donation is tax deductible and supports the young scientists who are being lost due to the federal funding crisis. #WCBR2026 nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
October 22, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Your donation is tax deductible and supports the young scientists who are being lost due to the federal funding crisis. #WCBR2026 nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
Reposted by Matt Wanat
We've extended the deadline for #WCBR2026 posters! New due date is Oct 16th! www.winterbrain.org please share!
Winter Conference on Brain Research | WCBR
www.winterbrain.org
October 10, 2025 at 1:28 PM
We've extended the deadline for #WCBR2026 posters! New due date is Oct 16th! www.winterbrain.org please share!
Reposted by Matt Wanat
Excited to share the Special Issue on "Stress and Addiction" in Addiction Neuroscience is now available. Huge kudos to guest editors Karl Schmidt and Anushree Karkhanis and all the authors who contributed. www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
Addiction Neuroscience | Stress <-> Addiction | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier
Stress and drugs of abuse have a bidirectional relationship, such that stress is often seen as a driver of drug use, while at the same time drug use/abuse alters stress responses. Acute exposure to a ...
www.sciencedirect.com
October 9, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Excited to share the Special Issue on "Stress and Addiction" in Addiction Neuroscience is now available. Huge kudos to guest editors Karl Schmidt and Anushree Karkhanis and all the authors who contributed. www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
Reposted by Matt Wanat
October 9th is the deadline for poster submissions for #WCBR2026 please share! www.winterbrain.org
October 8, 2025 at 2:17 PM
October 9th is the deadline for poster submissions for #WCBR2026 please share! www.winterbrain.org
Reposted by Matt Wanat
The fiscal year is over.
So how was the NIH appropriation committed?
A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.
So how was the NIH appropriation committed?
A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.
a white cat is sitting on a box with the words where written on it .
ALT: a white cat is sitting on a box with the words where written on it .
media.tenor.com
October 1, 2025 at 4:08 PM
The fiscal year is over.
So how was the NIH appropriation committed?
A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.
So how was the NIH appropriation committed?
A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.
Reposted by Matt Wanat
On the nature of a NSF (or NIH) graduate training fellowship drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/o...
On the nature of a NSF (or NIH) graduate training fellowship
I had a thought about graduate school fellowships and added it to the prior past about the NSF GRFP limitations to first year graduate students. [ETA 09/29/2025: I forgot to mention something impor…
drugmonkey.wordpress.com
September 30, 2025 at 1:28 AM
On the nature of a NSF (or NIH) graduate training fellowship drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/o...
Sometimes you hear a bump in the night. Sometimes that bump is your ceiling crashing down due to an AC drain leak. This wasn’t on my bingo card for today
September 24, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Sometimes you hear a bump in the night. Sometimes that bump is your ceiling crashing down due to an AC drain leak. This wasn’t on my bingo card for today
Reposted by Matt Wanat
🔵 I'm interrupting my social media hiatus to flag this important preprint from the Bruchas lab (is he not on Bluesky!?) together with @davidweinshenker.bsky.social. Very difficult experiments to show that dopamine release from LC terminals is independent of VTA 🔥
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
September 17, 2025 at 5:44 AM
🔵 I'm interrupting my social media hiatus to flag this important preprint from the Bruchas lab (is he not on Bluesky!?) together with @davidweinshenker.bsky.social. Very difficult experiments to show that dopamine release from LC terminals is independent of VTA 🔥
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Matt Wanat
We showed previously that chemogenetic activation of the LC rescues spatial reversal learning in the TgF344-AD rat. New paper follows up and reports that optogenetic stimulation of LC terminals in CA1 also rescues cognitive deficits in 3xTg mouse model of AD. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Photostimulation of locus coeruleus CA1 catecholaminergic terminals reversed Spatial memory impairment in an alzheimer’s disease mouse model - Psychopharmacology
Rationale One of the earliest changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the loss of catecholaminergic terminals in the cortex and hippocampus originating from the Locus Coeruleus (LC). This ...
link.springer.com
September 12, 2025 at 6:50 PM
We showed previously that chemogenetic activation of the LC rescues spatial reversal learning in the TgF344-AD rat. New paper follows up and reports that optogenetic stimulation of LC terminals in CA1 also rescues cognitive deficits in 3xTg mouse model of AD. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Matt Wanat
We're hiring 2 faculty in Behavioral and Cellular Neuroscience at the Assistant Professor level -- come join our amazing department at Texas A&M!
apply.interfolio.com/172286
Apply by Oct 1 for highest priority.
apply.interfolio.com/172286
Apply by Oct 1 for highest priority.
September 12, 2025 at 6:10 PM
We're hiring 2 faculty in Behavioral and Cellular Neuroscience at the Assistant Professor level -- come join our amazing department at Texas A&M!
apply.interfolio.com/172286
Apply by Oct 1 for highest priority.
apply.interfolio.com/172286
Apply by Oct 1 for highest priority.
Reposted by Matt Wanat
It's been a busy time for NIH grants staff — the agency seems on track to spend its budget this fiscal year
But, because of multi-year funding, fewer projects are being funded than in previous years.
The number of R grants has fallen from 5,633 to 3,758
analysis by @jaspar.bsky.social
But, because of multi-year funding, fewer projects are being funded than in previous years.
The number of R grants has fallen from 5,633 to 3,758
analysis by @jaspar.bsky.social
September 12, 2025 at 1:10 PM
It's been a busy time for NIH grants staff — the agency seems on track to spend its budget this fiscal year
But, because of multi-year funding, fewer projects are being funded than in previous years.
The number of R grants has fallen from 5,633 to 3,758
analysis by @jaspar.bsky.social
But, because of multi-year funding, fewer projects are being funded than in previous years.
The number of R grants has fallen from 5,633 to 3,758
analysis by @jaspar.bsky.social
Reposted by Matt Wanat
Adding up the NIH R01s lost to Multi-Year Funding drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/09/09/a...
Adding up the NIH R01s lost to Multi-Year Funding
From Berg’s bluesky post Jeremy Berg recently noted that he’s estimating about 2,400 grants that cannot be funded due to multi-year funding of other grants. His focus was on total fundi…
drugmonkey.wordpress.com
September 9, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Adding up the NIH R01s lost to Multi-Year Funding drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/09/09/a...
Reposted by Matt Wanat
Excited to share this update to our paper investigating the role of superior colliculus inputs to the ventral midbrain in learning and movement. Studies led by the amazing Dr. @carlipoisson.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
September 9, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Excited to share this update to our paper investigating the role of superior colliculus inputs to the ventral midbrain in learning and movement. Studies led by the amazing Dr. @carlipoisson.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Matt Wanat
Here ye, here ye!!! #WCBR2026 #WinterConfrenceonBrainResearch will be extending the panel deadline one week for submission (new deadline 9/18/2025)! Official announcement coming soon so check your emails! please reskeet!
a man in a costume holding a scroll that says hear ye hear ye
Alt: a man in a costume holding a scroll that says hear ye hear ye
media.tenor.com
September 9, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Here ye, here ye!!! #WCBR2026 #WinterConfrenceonBrainResearch will be extending the panel deadline one week for submission (new deadline 9/18/2025)! Official announcement coming soon so check your emails! please reskeet!
Florida: Come for the beaches and stay for the preventable diseases.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Florida moves to end all school vaccine mandates, first in nation to do so
Florida Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo criticized school vaccine mandates, which every state has, and likened them to slavery.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 3, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Florida: Come for the beaches and stay for the preventable diseases.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Reposted by Matt Wanat
Congratulations to Kristen Harris and Amy Hauck Newman the Pioneer Award Winners for #WCBR2026 ! Registration is now open and panel submissions are due Sept 11, 2025; posters are due October 9, 2025
August 28, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Congratulations to Kristen Harris and Amy Hauck Newman the Pioneer Award Winners for #WCBR2026 ! Registration is now open and panel submissions are due Sept 11, 2025; posters are due October 9, 2025