🚨New preprint alert🚨
We used closed-loop optogenetics to causally test the importance of inhibitory spike timing in network function and found that manipulating PV+ cell theta phase locking in the dentate gyrus can shift seizure susceptibility (both ways!)

🎉 Calling All Poets & Scientists

A science poetry competition for @unesco.org International Year of Quantum Science and Technology

📅 Deadline 20th June
🌐 Submit poems in in English, French, or Spanish
💷 Win up to £1,000 + FREE to enter

🔗 www.thebrilliantpoetry.com

#Poetry #SciComm #IYQ2025 🧪

A great post summarizing the current situation with NIH. If NSF follows suit, the impacts on US research & universities will be debilitating.

Please call your reps—you can use Liz’s great script! (if you have anxiety like me, the weekend is a good time because you can leave a voicemail lol)

New paper out in Cell Reports! Led by @susieyufeng.bsky.social, we found that chronic epilepsy in mice drives distinct synchronization deficits in hippocampus and MEC, with early changes in HPC and late-onset changes in MEC that align with progressive memory impairment.
www.cell.com/cell-reports...

A huge THANK YOU to my mentor @tristanshuman.bsky.social & all co-authors/collaborators/mentors/supporters who made this work possible! (6/6)

🙏 Angie Galas, Nick Vaughan, Susie Feng, @zoechristensonwick.bsky.social, Paul Philipsberg, Olga Liobimova, Antonio Fernandez-Ruiz, @denisejcai.bsky.social

Overall, these findings highlight disrupted timing & coordination in this circuitry, suggesting impaired MEC-hippocampus communication.

Moving forward, we’re excited to explore if restoring theta synchrony and/or spike timing in these circuits can ameliorate memory deficits. (5/6)

We also found disruptions in neuronal firing patterns, including:

⬇️ theta phase locking in MEC3 excitatory neurons

⬆️ firing rates in MEC2 excitatory neurons (in line with past work showing hyperexcitability in vitro)

Check out the preprint for more on other regions and celltypes! (4/6)

Theta oscillations are important for memory, plasticity, & long-range communication.

In 3xTg mice, we found ⬇️ hippocampal theta power and ⬇️ theta synchrony between MEC & CA1.

These changes emerged specifically at our later timepoint, coinciding with spatial memory deficits! (3/6)

We used silicon probes to record from MEC (layer 2 + 3) & hippocampus (CA1 + DG) simultaneously in the 3xTg mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease pathology.

This let us capture oscillations & single units in both hippocampus & MEC (a major source of hippocampal inputs). (2/6)

Interested in how neural communication breaks down in a model of Alzheimer's pathology?

In a new preprint, we found desynchronization in medial entorhinal–hippocampal circuits that coincided with the onset of spatial memory deficits in 3xTg mice. (1/6)

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

I am extremely excited to announce that for the first time ever, Skype a Scientist is offering mini-grants to support IRL science communication!!

Communicating science out in our communities is critical. We want to enable others to get their projects off the ground!

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Interested in Alzheimer's research and want understand how it affects brain activity? Check this out.

We're really excited to share this brand new review article from our lab, lead by Kirsten Calvin (her first first author pub).

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

2025 promises to be a year of new adventures and opportunities, so I’m excited to see what comes next! (6/6)

On a personal note, I attended the beautiful weddings of multiple dear friends. Did I cry BEFORE the ceremonies started? You had to be there to know! (5/6)

I returned to Symbiosis, the science short film contest I competed in in 2023, this time as the coordinator! It was an honor to work with Imagine Science Films/Labocine/ @simonsfoundation.org to support this year's 6 INCREDIBLE scientist-artist pairs in their filmmaking journeys. (4/6)

Other notable 2024 happenings: I told my first live science story with @storycollider.bsky.social! (3/6)

A HUGE thanks to my PI @tristanshuman.bsky.social, my committee (@melcregor.bsky.social, @denisejcai.bsky.social, @erinlrich.bsky.social, Ana Pereira, Annabelle Singer), everyone in the Shuman & Cai labs, + all my mentors at UF & @sinaibrain.bsky.social
for your wisdom, generosity, & support! (2/6)

Did 2024 feel LONG to anyone else? A little 2024 recap from me: I defended my PhD and submitted a first author paper describing my thesis work! Look out for a preprint very soon. (1/6)

I have seen someone say skyprints. I feel like there is a potential pun with sky writing to be had on this platform but I haven't figured out what it is yet.

SO EXCITED to share our latest work demonstrating that the anterior hypothalamic nucleus (AHN) regulates stress vulnerability!!!

We're officially on BlueSky 🚀 If you don't know us, we share stories that spark curiosity, inspire, & connect science with human experiences. 🔬✨ Follow us for incredible tales and updates about what we do around the world! And if you got a science story to share – hit us up!
#Storytelling #Science

🌟 Cai Lab Nature (@natureportfolio.bsky.social) paper alert! In work led by Joe Zaki, we find that rest periods after learning not only stabilize new memories BUT ALSO integrate new memories with older ones from days past! (1/10)

Read it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...