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Today was a very good day, and a rather big milestone for me as an academic scientist. I couldn't be more proud of my first three doctoral students, who have taught me so much, and who have such bright futures ahead of them. Congratulations Drs Hemmerling, Reddy, and Zvolanek!

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Dr. Molly Bright @brightmg.bsky.social · May 29

A simple proposal: journals, can you please adopt the concept of "business days"? Getting automatic review reminders on the Saturday AND Monday of a holiday weekend really irks me 🤨

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Dr. Molly Bright @brightmg.bsky.social · May 3

Congrats to Becca Clements on her first first author paper from her PhD! Also, she convinced me that maybe deep learning CAN become part of our lab toolbox 🫣

Dr. Molly Bright @brightmg.bsky.social · May 3

Breath hold fMRI is great for measuring CVR... *except when your participant or patient doesn't quite perform the task the way you'd like. Let's see if we can fix that! (Spoiler, it looks like we can, using the respiratory belt data to predict or fill in missing PETCO2 data!)

Imaging Neuroscience @imagingneurosci.bsky.social · Apr 15

New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Rebecca G. Clements, Molly G. Bright, et al:

Quantitative mapping of cerebrovascular reactivity amplitude and delay with breath-hold BOLD fMRI when end-tidal CO2 quality is low

doi.org/10.1162/imag...

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Dr. Molly Bright @brightmg.bsky.social · Apr 23

Thanks @drkenweber.bsky.social and @robert-l-barry.bsky.social for all your contributions to our lab's fledgling foray into the cervical cord, and supporting Kim's development and independence!

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Dr. Molly Bright @brightmg.bsky.social · Apr 23

Huge congratulations to @kjhemm.bsky.social , now officially DOCTOR Hemmerling after a successful powerhouse of a thesis defense! Kim has taken all the stuff I know and love about imaging function and physiology of the human brain, and Made It Work in the cervical spinal cord. Brava, and thank you!

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Reposted by Dr. Molly Bright

Imaging Neuroscience @imagingneurosci.bsky.social · Apr 17

On this day 2y ago we announced our move away from the huge profits that NeuroImage makes for Elsevier.

Things at Imaging Neuroscience have progressed fantastically thanks to the support for this move by the brain imaging community and @mitpress.bsky.social. 565 papers published already!

Screenshot of the original tweet announcing our move, with 5K likes and 2M views.

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Reposted by Dr. Molly Bright

Jesse D. Jenkins @jessedjenkins.com · Apr 15

Now there's a memorable stat!

"Colleges and universities are among America’s most competitive international exporters. In dollar terms, last year, the United States sold more educational services to the rest of the world than it sold in natural gas and coal combined."

wapo.st/3EvzMCI

Opinion | Trump is killing one of our strongest exports

The president wants to balance U.S. trade deficits? He can’t do it without this industry he hates.

wapo.st

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Reposted by Dr. Molly Bright

Amanda Mejia @mandymejia.bsky.social · Apr 12

Transparency matters when reporting results in neuroimaging! arxiv.org/abs/2504.07824 This could be a landmark in setting publishing standards for interpretability/reproducibility. Stellar work by @afni-pt.bsky.social @fmri-today.bsky.social @brightmg.bsky.social @gangchen6.bsky.social et al.

Opaque thresholding hides information: context around statistically significant clusters is removed, treats subthreshold regions as having no activity. Transparent thresholding shows information: context around significant clusters is displayed, can observe relative importance of subthreshold regions.

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Dr. Molly Bright @brightmg.bsky.social · Apr 11

We tell our trainees to really LOOK at their data, every step of the way. This paper takes that wisdom even further, so future external readers really see our neuroimaging results in all their complex glory 👏 Thanks @afni-pt.bsky.social for spearheading this amazing team effort!

Paul Taylor @afni-pt.bsky.social · Apr 11

The result of a large (42 authors!) collaboration:
"Go Figure: Transparency in neuroscience images preserves context and clarifies interpretation"
arxiv.org/abs/2504.07824
TL;DR: The FMRI world can (and should) improve results interpretation and reproducibility *today*, via transparent thresholding.

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Dr. Molly Bright @brightmg.bsky.social · Apr 9

With the world the way it is, I'm extra appreciative of the clever, dedicated, curious trainees I get the privilege to work with and mentor. 👏 Happy Graduate Student Appreciation Week! 👏 www.tgs.northwestern.edu/services-sup... Northwestern students, make sure you get some goodies on offer 😁

Graduate Student Appreciation Week (GSAW) 2025: The Graduate School - Northwestern University

Graduate Student Appreciation Week (GSAW) 2025 is a nationally recognized celebration that will take place from Monday, April 7 – Friday, April 11 (with some bonus events on Saturday, April 12). It is...

www.tgs.northwestern.edu

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Dr. Molly Bright @brightmg.bsky.social · Apr 9

Northwestern (along with Cornell) appear now also targeted. I don't know what outcome to realistically hope for. I will hug my family extra tight tonight, reach out to my amazing trainees tomorrow, and try to do whatever good research I can do for as long as possible. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/u...

Trump Officials Freeze $1 Billion for Cornell and $790 Million for Northwestern

The funding pause amid civil rights investigations into both universities sharply escalates the Trump administration’s campaign against elite colleges.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Dr. Molly Bright

Dan Handwerker @danielhandwerker.bsky.social · Apr 8

Likely hiring one postbac trainee for @fmri-today.bsky.social's Section on Functional Imaging Methods. Give the relatively later start time for the search, I'm not yet sure how quickly this search will happen. If you are interested, apply and reach out ASAP. fim.nimh.nih.gov

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Dr. Molly Bright @brightmg.bsky.social · Mar 31

Can you post a bit throughout? I can't make it and I'm so curious what's happening!

Dr. Molly Bright @brightmg.bsky.social · Mar 11

I'm actively trying to post about science despite the world being on fire. It feels odd. Thinking of all my intramural friends.

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Dr. Molly Bright @brightmg.bsky.social · Mar 11

some days I look longingly at those resting state studies.... But I rally quickly 😁

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Dr. Molly Bright @brightmg.bsky.social · Mar 11

Some days, our lab's motto feels like it should be "how could we make fMRI harder?!" 😆 Then I remember that's another way of saying "how could we make fMRI more useful & interpretable?"

Here's Michelle, an excellent PhD student translating proximal (e.g. shoulder) motor tasks into chronic stroke 💪

PhD student in a lab adjusting an MRI compatible device for motor tasks in the scanner

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Dr. Molly Bright @brightmg.bsky.social · Mar 7

Excited to visit University of Delaware next week - hope to see a few familiar faces and meet new potential collaborators!

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Dr. Molly Bright @brightmg.bsky.social · Mar 7

Great speakers, great turnout, great signs, and a much needed outlet to unite and speak up. Thank you organizers #standupforscience2025 in Chicago.

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