Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · 3d

Absolutely fantastic work on an underappreciated pocket of the brain and body! (Our understanding of) Meningeal macrophages get cooler every day!

Dan Levy 🤔🏊☕️🚴🎶 👟 @danlevy.bsky.social · 4d

A new preprint out from the Levy lab, adding knowledge to the exciting world of brain border macrophages and neuroimmunology.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Meningeal macrophages exhibit diverse calcium signaling at steady-state and in response to aberrant cortical hyperexcitability in awake mice

The meninges, which envelop and protect the brain, host a large number of resident macrophages that play a crucial role in regulating homeostasis and neuroinflammation. Intracellular Ca2+ signaling me...

www.biorxiv.org

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Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · 11d

Such an interesting experiment exploring interplay between cognition and basic bodily functions, like breathing.

Natalie Peluso 🧠🫁😊 @nataliepeluso.com · 12d

🫁 "Our results show that participants align their respiration more consistently around stimulus onset for trials with short deadlines or trials presenting high-value and high-difficulty." 👇

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

The alignment of respiration to sensory-motor events is shaped by expected effort.

Humans often align their respiration with external events, a phenomenon thought to optimize neural resources for perception and action. Indeed, in sensory-cognitive experiments participants tend to al...

www.biorxiv.org

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Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · Sep 4

🧵3/3 And of course, none of this would have been possible without postdoc mentor Helene Benveniste, co-lead author Zohaib Khan🥇 @weillcornell.bsky.social and MANY others including the incredible, late, Allen Tannenbaum. Looking forward to more exciting brain-immune 🧠🦠🥼 research? Keep an eye out 👀😉

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Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · Sep 4

🧵2/3 Previous work shows CSF-lymph coupling can be affected by lifestyle 🚴🫀x genetics🧬 and *may* cause neurodegeneration with age/injury. An accompanying commentary from @laurenhablitz.bsky.social www.jci.org/articles/vie... highlight link between peripheral injury, brain health, and immune system.🦠

JCI - Cerebrospinal fluid flow modulates brain health

www.jci.org

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Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · Sep 4

🧵1/3 Excited for my recent 🧪research out at @jclinical-invest.bsky.social! At @yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social Anesthesiology, we manipulated coupling between brain (cerebrospinal fluid🧠💧[CSF]) and cervical lymph vessels. We saw age-based drainage changes, ⬆️📈neuroinflammation and ⬇️📉brain homeostasis.

Journal of Clinical Investigation @jci.org · Sep 3

How does impaired lymphatic drainage affect cerebral homeostasis?

Helene Benveniste & team use dynamic CE-MRI and computational fluid dynamics in a rat model of mechanical stress to deep cervical lymph nodes, revealing the brain’s adaptive response.

buff.ly/k9sGQoQ

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Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · Aug 19

It is great to welcome @shariwiseman.bsky.social (back) to Yale along with the Yale Neuro Postdoc Committee [YNPC], @kavliatyale.bsky.social, and @yaleneuro.bsky.social ! Pictures are of her first talk to a packed room of trainees, about scientific publishing and related careers

Shari Wiseman standing in front of a room and speaking to trainee scientists, mostly postdoctoral researchers and graduate students.

A different angle of Shari Wiseman standing in front of a room and speaking to trainee scientists, mostly postdoctoral researchers and graduate students.

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Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · Aug 14

This is a great opportunity for any postdoc with a scientific story that they want to share and a drive to meet more researchers in the field! I highly recommend applying even if you are uncertain

Sreeganga Chandra Lab at Yale @schandralab.bsky.social · Aug 8

Postdocs: Apply now for the SYNAPSES series @kavliatyale.bsky.social @yaleneuro.bsky.social! Deadline to apply is September 7th

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Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · Aug 7

Very excited to contribute to this recent review where we discuss ways in which the immune system interacts with the brain, focusing on inhibitory neurons of the cortex!
authors.elsevier.com/c/1lWWR3Q9h2...

authors.elsevier.com

Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · Jul 18

Excited to be representing the @emiliafavuzzi.bsky.social lab at @krfoundation.org 's 2025 Innovations symposium! If you're here, feel free to say hi and come talk about brain-immune system interactions! #idb #brain #neuroscience #immunology #research #scicomm

Picture of symposium room with podium. Two projector screens on the sides of the podium say "Kenneth Rainin Foundation 2025 Innovations Symposium" with a picture of Turtle Bay Oahu, Hawaii.

Picture of Zachary Gursky, smiling, holding a name tag that says "Kenneth Rainin Foundation 2025 Innovations Symposium, Zachary Gursky, Yale University, Grantee"

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Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · Jun 13

Very interesting preprint on ligand-independent activation of GABA-B receptors (GPCRs more broadly?) by mechanical force transduction in the brain! Could this mechanism be at play in GABAergic circuits elsewhere in the body, as well?

bioRxivpreprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · Jun 13

GABA-independent activation of GABAB receptor by mechanical forces https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.09.658551v1

Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · May 29

Exciting finding led by a group here at Yale. Just because you might not find a lot of T cells in the brain tissue typically doesn't mean they aren't highly influential! And this is one source of them

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Reposted by Zachary H. Gursky

lehtinenlab.bsky.social @lehtinenlab.bsky.social · May 28

Led by @scienceyael.bsky.social & out today in @natneuro.nature.com: the brain's fluid-secreting organ — the choroid plexus — can reshape neural development through a powerful, little-known process. & it can be hijacked by serotonergic drugs like LSD. 🧠👇 A thread
rdcu.be/eoaSY

Choroid plexus apocrine secretion shapes CSF proteome during mouse brain development

Nature Neuroscience - The choroid plexus (ChP) provides molecular cues for brain development. However, the underlying mechanisms are unclear. This study identifies an apocrine secretion mechanism...

rdcu.be

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Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · May 28

It may be tempting to see "AI" (as vague and nebulous as that term is) as an answer; a means to an end. Instead, consider it one of many tools in a collection of expertise that must be refined and combined with our knowledge, experience, and humanity toward the futures we want. Sensibly.

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Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · May 28

"If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail." -Maslow, 1966

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Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · May 28

Just attended a college graduation where the majority of speeches referenced the necessity and inevitability of AI (when AI was not in curricula). Very interesting choice to prioritize this over the academic efforts and achievements of the new graduates.

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Reposted by Zachary H. Gursky

María A. Moro @mariangelesmoro.bsky.social · May 22

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

CSF transport at the brain–meningeal border: effects on neurological health and disease

The existence of specialised structures that allow a continuous exchange of CSF between different anatomical compartments at the brain–meningeal border is challenging conventional notions around molec...

www.thelancet.com

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Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · May 17

Congrats @siararouzer.bsky.social ! Keeping FASD research represented for the Gordis

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Reposted by Zachary H. Gursky

Oscar Marín Lab @marinlab.bsky.social · Apr 30

4/10 Using experimental manipulations, we found that PV interneurons scale the inhibition they receive to maintain stability. When the activity of a PV interneuron increases, it “requests” more inhibitory inputs from other PV+ interneurons, effectively rebalancing its activity

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Reposted by Zachary H. Gursky

RTN Conference @rtnconference.bsky.social · Apr 16

🚨Registrations now live!
Check out this amazing line up of speakers at #RTN #ReThinkNeuroimmunology organised by @quintanalabhms.bsky.social @bethstevenslab.bsky.social @jonykipnis.bsky.social @idoamitlab.bsky.social #RejaneRua
Register here: genelayinstitute.org/rtn/

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Reposted by Zachary H. Gursky

Ologies with Alie Ward @ologies.bsky.social · Apr 14

Just a reminder that if you’re an ologist or passionate expert in something (or have someone to suggest) shoot your friggin shot on this app & tweet me.

I may not get to interview everyone but I love knowing whom’s whom. 🎤💚🎧

(oh but check to see if we’ve already covered it: www.ologies.com)

alie ward

www.ologies.com

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Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · Apr 2

I'm excited to host Dr. Pandey tomorrow for what will certainly be an outstanding talk! Thanks to @kavliatyale.bsky.social and @yaleneuro.bsky.social for providing the opportunity to bring in our scientific peers and connect postdocs and facilty across institutions

Yale Neuroscience @yaleneuro.bsky.social · Apr 2

TOMORROW (4/3) Kiran Pandey, PhD 🥼 from @weillcornell.bsky.social will be presenting a #SYNAPSES seminar 🗣️ on "Pericyte-Neuron Interactions in Long Term Memory" 🧠

Thank you to @zachary-gursky.bsky.social for hosting 🙌 We hope to see you there! 👀

Co-sponsored by @kavliatyale.bsky.social

Flyer for SYNAPSES seminar by Kiran Pandey, PhD on April 3rd

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Reposted by Zachary H. Gursky

Jonathan Kipnis @jonykipnis.bsky.social · Mar 21

Excited to share our work by exceptional postdoc, Kyungdeok (KD) Kim. 2025 marks 10th anniversary of meningeal lymphatic discovery and I can’t be happier celebrating it with this work addressing how lymphatic dysfunction leads to cognitive deficits ||

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

Meningeal lymphatics-microglia axis regulates synaptic physiology

Meningeal lymphatics serve as an outlet for cerebrospinal fluid, and their dysfunction is associated with various neurodegenerative conditions. Previo…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · Feb 26

Today, I donated blood for the first time in my life with @americanredcross.bsky.social. I have always been wildly uncomfortable around needles and particularly IVs, but the world needs more people helping each other right now. Be kind to those around you, and help where you can.

Reposted by Zachary H. Gursky

Fong Kuan Wong @brainotopia.bsky.social · Feb 19

Excited to share the latest work from our lab where we examined the role of pyramidal cells in regulating microglia development!

As per tradition here is a graphical summary of our paper in comic form.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Zachary H. Gursky @zachary-gursky.bsky.social · Feb 16

I'm not sure whether this is of interest (probably too complex to be printer-friendly) but @caitvw.bsky.social worked on this beautiful project a few years ago and maybe could help point you to someone involved that might have a more manageable asset? neuroecology.wordpress.com/2016/10/25/i...

Interstellate Magazine: The Art of Neuroscience

Caitlin Vander Weele has been curating a collection of stunning neuroscience images that really bring the brain to life (so to speak). Volume 1 is here and it is a beauty! You can also download the…

neuroecology.wordpress.com

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