Saskia Stenzel
@saskiastenzel.bsky.social
BIF PhD Fellow at Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research
Studying how neural circuits shape feeding behavior 🐭🧠🧁
Studying how neural circuits shape feeding behavior 🐭🧠🧁
Reposted by Saskia Stenzel
0.00003 foot tall xmas tree from a Drosophila flight steering muscle 🎄
image by @anne-sustar.bsky.social
image by @anne-sustar.bsky.social
December 24, 2025 at 11:34 PM
0.00003 foot tall xmas tree from a Drosophila flight steering muscle 🎄
image by @anne-sustar.bsky.social
image by @anne-sustar.bsky.social
Reposted by Saskia Stenzel
lab preprint! Interopceptive predictions are central to many brain-body interactions theories, but it's unclear if/how they affect bodily physiology. We (fearless Einav Litvak et al) show that insular cortex predictions are essential for glucose homeostasis-THREAD.. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Insular cortex predictions regulate glucose homeostasis
Brain-body interactions are essential for physical and emotional homeostasis. The brain uses information from the external world to predict upcoming bodily changes. This process involves interoceptive...
www.biorxiv.org
December 12, 2025 at 1:15 PM
lab preprint! Interopceptive predictions are central to many brain-body interactions theories, but it's unclear if/how they affect bodily physiology. We (fearless Einav Litvak et al) show that insular cortex predictions are essential for glucose homeostasis-THREAD.. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Saskia Stenzel
Thanks to @nature.com for featuring our work in this piece on genetically-encoded sensors.
The article does a great job highlighting their importance for both basic research and translational impact, such as in our lab's research on serotonin.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The article does a great job highlighting their importance for both basic research and translational impact, such as in our lab's research on serotonin.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
How genetically encoded sensors have lit up neuroscience
Tools that track specific molecules in neurons have enabled researchers to probe previously unexplored aspects of neurobiology — although important caveats remain.
www.nature.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Thanks to @nature.com for featuring our work in this piece on genetically-encoded sensors.
The article does a great job highlighting their importance for both basic research and translational impact, such as in our lab's research on serotonin.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The article does a great job highlighting their importance for both basic research and translational impact, such as in our lab's research on serotonin.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Saskia Stenzel
Thrilled to share our new paper, out now in @natneuro.nature.com, uncovering how estradiol, the most potent estrogen, modulates reinforcement learning and reward prediction errors across biological levels. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#blueprint 1/7
#blueprint 1/7
Estrogen modulates reward prediction errors and reinforcement learning - Nature Neuroscience
Dopamine encoding of reward prediction errors naturally fluctuates over females’ reproductive cycles with estrogenic signaling due to reduced expression of dopamine reuptake proteins.
www.nature.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Thrilled to share our new paper, out now in @natneuro.nature.com, uncovering how estradiol, the most potent estrogen, modulates reinforcement learning and reward prediction errors across biological levels. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#blueprint 1/7
#blueprint 1/7
Reposted by Saskia Stenzel
Out today in Nature: We uncover a neural mechanism for the integration of two internal states - hunger and estrous state - and how this integration shapes pup-directed behaviors in mice.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Integration of hunger and hormonal state gates infant-directed aggression - Nature
Combined behavioural, circuit-level and cellular approaches are used to demonstrate how hypothalamic neurons integrate hunger and oestrous state to drive a switch in how female mice interact with pups...
www.nature.com
October 22, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Out today in Nature: We uncover a neural mechanism for the integration of two internal states - hunger and estrous state - and how this integration shapes pup-directed behaviors in mice.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...