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Kate Wassum

@katewassum.bsky.social

640 followers 350 following 32 posts

Neuroscientist 🧠👩🏼‍🔬, UCLA, studying the brain circuits of learning, decision making, and habits.

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Feb 19

🚨📃New Wassum Lab Paper📃🚨

Out today, @jackiegio.bsky.social discovered brain pathways that support agency and habit and how chronic stress disrupts them to rob of us our agency and cause us to form rigid habits 🧵👇

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Free full text: rdcu.be/eaxEv

A dual-pathway architecture for stress to disrupt agency and promote habit - Nature

Adaptive decision-making often requires an understanding of our agency in a situation; however, chronic stress can disrupt agency and promote inflexible, habitual behaviour by turning off a brain path...

www.nature.com

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Jul 31

This is super cool!! Excited to hear more about it.

Reposted by Kate Wassum

Zoe McElligott @nanopharmnc.bsky.social · Jul 1

Submissions for #WCBR2026 open today! Please go to www.winterbrain.org Big Sky is my absolute favorite venue for this meeting. The science is top notch, the people are great, the meaning is inclusive, and I learned to ski as a 35 year old! Please repost!

Winter Conference on Brain Research January 24th to 29th 2026 Big Sky Montana!

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · May 25

Cool stuff, Ben!! Congrats to you & the team!

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Mar 19

👀 awesome!! Congrats. Excited to dig into this.

Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Mar 18

Thanks!!!!

Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Mar 4

Calling all amygdaloids!!! The #AmygdalaGRC is coming up this summer in Barcelona.

We’ve got talks, posters, networking, power hour, and tons of fun planned.
👀 the program 👇🏻

We’re accepting folks on a rolling basis, apply soon to make sure you get a spot: www.grc.org/amygdala-fun...

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Mar 3

Thanks!!

Reposted by Kate Wassum

Emily Prevost @emilyprevost.bsky.social · Feb 27

New preprint! We untangle glutamatergic and dopaminergic subpopulations in the ventral tegmental area. Long thread incoming, buckle up friends. 1/n

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Untangling dopamine and glutamate in the ventral tegmental area

Ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons are of great interest for their central roles in motivation, learning, and psychiatric disorders. While hypotheses of VTA dopamine neuron function posit a...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Kate Wassum

Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.bsky.social · Mar 1

HEY SOCAL & LA FRIENDS!

We’ve gotten a TON of questions about how to get involved in SoCal/LA—and here’s the answer! ☀️🌎⬇️

Spread the word & tag someone in LA that should check it out!

Darby Saxbe @darbysaxbe.bsky.social · Feb 28

Los Angeles people: join us 12pm March 7 for a rally for science at the Federal Building in Westwood, and please spread the word to any pro-science folks you know. @standupforscience.bsky.social @latimes.com @ktla.com @abc7.bsky.social @kcrw.com @laist.com @crooked.com @nbcla.com @foxla.bsky.social

Flyer for the Stand Up for Science rally featuring an image of a Statue of Liberty

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Feb 25

Thx 😊

Reposted by Kate Wassum

Nature @nature.com · Feb 19

Scientists have found two ‘dials’ in the brain that help to explain how chronic stress hijacks decision-making

https://go.nature.com/41nrC88

How chronic stress warps decision-making

Nerve-cell ‘highways’ identified in mice suggest that stress pushes the brain towards rigid habit and away from thoughtful choices.

go.nature.com

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Feb 20

This discovery would not have been possible without the support of NIH grants.
NIH funding is absolutely vital to the scientific discovery that builds the foundation of knowledge and truth that helps us understand ourselves and improve health and wellbeing for all.

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Feb 20

💯 thanks for amplifying that for me.

Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Feb 20

Amygdala and striatal activity can be altered in a variety of mental health conditions (substance use disorder, PTSD, depression, generalized anxiety, autism, OCD), I think there is some evidence of altered connectivity in some connections too.

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Feb 20

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Feb 20

a little boy wearing a hat is making a funny face and says aww shucks .

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Feb 20

a little girl is smiling in a black and white photo and saying `` omg thanks '' .

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Feb 20

This link should give you access: Free full text: rdcu.be/eaxEv

If not, it’s also on BioRxiv

A dual-pathway architecture for stress to disrupt agency and promote habit

Nature - Adaptive decision-making often requires an understanding of our agency in a situation; however, chronic stress can disrupt agency and promote inflexible, habitual behaviour by turning off...

rdcu.be

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Feb 20

Indeed, NIH funding was critical to this and all our discoveries.

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Feb 20

That would be awesome!!!!!

Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Feb 20

Glad to give you a reprieve!

Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Feb 19

And a huge thanks to the editors and reviewers who gave us their time and energy to help with this science. You made this story better.

a little girl is sitting on a bed and saying `` thank you you da best '' .

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Feb 19

This was a team effort, we couldn't have done this without the dedication, creativity, ingenuity, and perseverance of the whole team of folks in our lab and our collaborators.

two men are sitting next to each other and one of them is saying teamwork

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Feb 19

The data reveal a dual-pathway architecture through which chronic stress disrupts agency and promotes the formation of rigid habits

We're excited to further explore how we can intervene following stress to restore agency and break bad habits.

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Kate Wassum @katewassum.bsky.social · Feb 19

We were able to restore adaptive decision making following chronic stress by reengaging the BLA➡️DMS pathway or dialing down the CeA➡️DMS pathway

a woman says " break the bad habits " in white letters on a white background

Alt: a woman says " break the bad habits " in white letters on a white background

media.tenor.com

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