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Mari Sosa

@marisosa.bsky.social

1.6K followers 730 following 89 posts

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Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Apr 25

Exciting news!! I’m joining the tenure-track faculty at University of Colorado Boulder this fall as an Assistant Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience!

The Sosa Lab will study how memory is shaped by cognitive and physiological demands, including during pregnancy and the postpartum period. 🧵

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Reposted by Mari Sosa

Claudia Lopez Lloreda @claudia-lopez.bsky.social · 14d

Hi everyone! We are taking a look at the state of funding in the neuroscience field so we are looking for PIs to answer this survey. Please feel free to fill out and share with colleagues.

Ty!

Quantifying funding sources across neuroscience labs

We want to hear from you about the sources of funding for your research.

www.thetransmitter.org

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Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · 16d

The Sosa Lab website is now live!
www.sosaneurolab.com

We will be seeking a postdoctoral researcher to join the growing team! If you are a rodent neuroscientist and interested in doing systems neuro work in the mountains 🏔️, please check out the "Join" page.

Sosa Lab

www.sosaneurolab.com

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Reposted by Mari Sosa

Ardem Patapoutian @ardemp.bskyverified.social · 20d

New preprint alert! The uterus expands ~500-fold in pregnancy, yet we know little about how pressures are sensed. Led by @yunxiao-dr.bsky.social, we show PIEZOs are required for contractions and birth in mice, with dual roles of PIEZO1 in muscle and PIEZO2 in neurons
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

PIEZO channels link mechanical forces to uterine contractions in parturition

Mechanical forces are extensively involved in pregnancy and parturition, but their precise roles and mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we identify mechanically activated ion channels PIEZO1 a...

www.biorxiv.org

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Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · 23d

Great news for science and for Stanford!! Laura’s research is amazing! 🤩

Laura Seeholzer @lauraseeholzer.bsky.social · 23d

I'm excited to share that I've started my lab @stanford.edu in the Neurobiology Department! neurobiology.stanford.edu/who-we-are/f...

#stanford #newPI #neuroscience

Faculty

neurobiology.stanford.edu

Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Aug 13

Thank you Abhilasha!!! 🤗🤗

Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Jul 9

Congratulations Chris!! 🥳 Excited to follow the amazing discoveries from your lab!

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Reposted by Mari Sosa

Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.bsky.social · Jun 29

The proposed budget slashes NIH by ~40%, devastating medical research, clinical trials, treatment breakthroughs—life-saving work.

Thousands of lives at risk for tax cuts for the rich? NO THANKS.

Tell your senators to oppose the cuts HERE:
zurl.co/qiKdX

zurl.co/RCR0y
#CutsCostLives

Will the Senate Save NIH?

Rescuing biomedical research is every bit as important as saving Medicaid.

zurl.co

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Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Jun 29

Love them!!!

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Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Jun 29

Great piece from @thetransmitter.bsky.social about the field’s current understanding of the hippocampus! Honored for the nod to our recent paper among these many other excellent studies www.thetransmitter.org/memory/expan...

Expanded view of hippocampal function comes into focus

After decades of debate, the region’s role is being rewritten. Rather than using sensory input to simply log key points in time and space, the hippocampus may serve to contextualize our experiences…

www.thetransmitter.org

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Reposted by Mari Sosa

Ardem Patapoutian @ardemp.bskyverified.social · Jun 19

I spoke with Jade Hindmon, host of @kpbssandiego.bsky.social Midday Edition, about the consequences of the current administration’s cuts to science funding. Please share to help spread the word and raise awareness.
www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpb...

Nobel laureate on how Trump's cuts are hurting science

Neuroscientist, biologist and 2021 Nobel Prize winner Ardem Patapoutian joined Midday Edition to talk about how the Trump administration's effort to cut back on science spending is impacting researche...

www.kpbs.org

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Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Jun 18

Add your name to our open letter condemning Trump’s latest Executive Order that appoints politicians — not scientists — to evaluate research.

Take action now! actionnetwork.org/petitions/op...

Sign The Open Letter to Stand Up For Science Now!

Science is under siege. Join us in adding your name to our open letter condemning Trump’s escalated assault on science in America.

actionnetwork.org

Reposted by Mari Sosa

Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · Jun 17

After ruling the NIH grant cuts were illegal yesterday, Judge Young, a Reagan appointee on the bench since 1985, ended the hearing with a blistering 15-minute speech.

I've cleaned up my notes — here are his remarks in full. 🧵

Judge rules against NIH grant cuts — and calls them discriminatory

The decision means that the US biomedical agency has to restore funding to hundreds of research projects, but the government will likely appeal.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Mari Sosa

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · Jun 16

Neuroscience research and training has taken a $323 million hit in the form of grants rescinded by the U.S. NIH, according to an analysis by @thetransmitter.bsky.social.

By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/funding/nih-...

NIH cuts quash $323 million for neuroscience research and training

“I am frightened for the state of the future of our field if this isn't reversed rapidly,” says Joshua Gordon, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and former director of the National…

www.thetransmitter.org

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Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Jun 12

Thanks Oliver! It’s been a journey! 😅

Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Jun 12

Thanks Dan!! 😊

Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Jun 12

Check out a great summary of this work and its potential implications from @stanfordbrain.bsky.social! neuroscience.stanford.edu/news/locatio...

Locations of treats are stored in specialized neural maps

Research from the Giocomo lab finds that mice create neural maps of the location of rewards, distinct

neuroscience.stanford.edu

Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Jun 12

Finally, when the reward location changed, the reward-relative neural activity tended to update just before the animal's behavior fully adapted, suggesting this code could inform behavioral decisions.

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Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Jun 12

Surprisingly though, these were not dedicated cell classes! Individual cells could change coding identity day to day, and reward-relative or spatial properties were expressed in individual place fields.

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Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Jun 12

Over 2 weeks of learning, the number of hippocampal neurons allocated to this "reward-relative" code grew across experience -- amplifying this representation -- while the number of neurons encoding space remained static.

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Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Jun 12

We found that when we moved the reward within a constant environment, a subpopulation of hippocampal place cells changed their firing fields to mirror the change in reward location, continuing to fire either before or after the reward even if the cell’s field was meters away.

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Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Jun 12

To tackle these questions, we used 2-photon calcium imaging to monitor large populations of dorsal hippocampal CA1 neurons as mice learned to find changing hidden rewards in virtual environments, dissociating reward from space.

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Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Jun 12

How are memories of rewarding experiences (such as walking to your favorite cafe) amplified while maintaining a stable representation of the external world (the spatial route to get there)? And how does your brain track how close you are to the cafe when you are still blocks away?

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Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Jun 12

It's officially published!! In my main postdoc work with @markplitt.bsky.social and @lgiocomo.bsky.social, we found that the hippocampus simultaneously encodes an animal's spatial position and its experience relative to reward in parallel population codes. 🧵

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

A flexible hippocampal population code for experience relative to reward - Nature Neuroscience

Sosa et al. find that hippocampal neural activity in mice encodes both environmental location and experience relative to rewards, spanning distances far from reward, through parallel and flexible popu...

www.nature.com

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Mari Sosa @marisosa.bsky.social · Jun 12

Congrats on submitting Christian!!! Such an accomplishment in itself!! 🤞

Reposted by Mari Sosa

lgiocomo.bsky.social @lgiocomo.bsky.social · Jun 11

New paper from the lab officially out! Congratulations @marisosa.bsky.social - amazing work - and just before she sets off to UC Boulder to start her own lab!

stanfordbrain.bsky.social @stanfordbrain.bsky.social · Jun 11

How does the brain map where rewards are found?

Stanford researchers Lisa Giocomo and Mari Sosa found that mice form adaptable hippocampal maps that track reward locations, offering insight into how memory, dementia & addiction relate to place and reward.

neuroscience.stanford.edu/news/locatio...

A section of the mouse hippocampus illustrates where cells were genetically engineered to fluoresce when active using GCaMP, a genetically encoded calcium indicator commonly used to image brain activity. Image credit: Giocomo Lab

Lisa Giocomo is a professor of neurobiology, HHMI Investigator, and Wu Tsai Neuro deputy director whose laboratory studies how single brain cells and dynamic networks interact to enable spatial memory and navigation.

Marielena Sosa is a postdoctoral scientist in the Giocomo lab who led the work with former graduate student Mark Plitt.

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