The lab is presenting at #SfN2025 Come check out the amazing science being conducted by postdoc Nina Baumgartner @nbaumgar.bsky.social and grad student Alexa Jo Tellez! I am also recruiting a postdoc so please spread the word. #neuroskyence

My promotion is officially official today! Many thanks my trainees who make science so fun and rewarding, to my colleagues for their mentorship and camaraderie, to my letters writers for their time and support, and to my husband for continuous support in this often crazy career.

We have been conducting calcium imaging in Rspo2+ neurons in the amygdala, which are reported to encode negative valence. I am totally obsessed with the Rspo2-Cre mouse line! Look at the stream of axons leaving the amygdala to their final destinations! #FluorescenceFriday #Neuroskyence

So happy (and relieved!) to receive funding for a new project investigating estradiol regulation of inhibitory microcircuits for valence processing in the amygdala! Difficult to share when many of my colleagues' grants are being terminated, but maybe this news will bring some folks hope ✨

Using #FluorescenceFriday to highlight a specialized population of neurons in the lateral septum that may comprise a hormone-sensitive memory engram to suppress conditioned fear responses when females are in the high hormone phase of the reproductive cycle. Interested? Come see my talk at #ACNP2024!

Legal is making me take down this graphic from my website and also delete the words "our laboratory is committed to diversity, inclusion, and work-life balance" to comply with the new DEI ban going into effect October 1. Crestfallen - should I just delete the website? Feels like a no-win situation.

I could not let #PostdocAppreciationWeek conclude without giving due praise to @nbaumgar.bsky.social. She is a creative and rigorous scientist, patient mentor, and beautiful person. She makes the lab a better place, and I am so grateful that she chose me as her mentor.

Our most amazing summer student not only gathered exciting new data for a new research direction in the lab but also made this graphic about our lab’s research 😍

Celebrating our 2 year anniversary at UAB! 🥳

This week's #FluorescenceFriday is brought to you by undergrads May and Molly, who are investigating sex differences in activation of lateral septum circuits. #Neuroskyence

Hi Everyone 👋 I'm here for the (neuro)science. Happy Fluorescence Friday from the Lucas Lab! We finally have RNAscope up and running to validate our snSEQ results from the lateral septum. Image courtesy postdoc Nina Baumgartner, who got this to work on the first trial 💪