mattjwanat.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Funny story - I forgot about this work I did as a PD in the PEMP lab (circa 2011-2013) but was recently reminded during a lab journal club. Better ~12 years late than never. Thx to Paul, Tati, and people from the lab doing revision expts (Brandon, Ceci, and Leo)! www.eneuro.org/content/12/5...

submitted 7 hours ago • 0 comments

NSF GRFPs terminated for those in graduate school and already attending Harvard, too.

submitted 5 days ago • 5 comments

Excited to share this new publication in Behavioural Pharmacology! Check it out via the link below. Congratulations to first author Dr. Nina Beltran, and the whole team including our collaborator Dr. Vanessa Minervini! journals.lww.com/behaviouralp... @ninabeltran.bsky.social

submitted 13 days ago • 2 comments

I’m excited to share a new paper from the lab. The study led by Xiaowei Gu reveals how the mPFC encodes complex emotional memories, using an internal model to infer emotional associations and memories via projections to the amygdala. a🧵(1/8) rdcu.be/el19t

submitted 13 days ago • 10 comments

To the grant reviewers who gave me good scores - thank you. To reviewer 1 - well, I have other words. Let this be a way to feel better about the scores you receive because it is hard to top this.

submitted 26 days ago • 3 comments

My trainee's F31 diversity from NIDDK "terminated" today. We received a NGA for $0.00. He worked his butt off for it and would have been competitive in the normal F31 pool. This is just blatant discrimination. If there are large lawsuits being put together, please share that info. #contractlaw

submitted 27 days ago • 12 comments

The lab's latest published project lead by our recently graduated Dr. Rhiannon Robke! --> Optogenetic stimulation of novel TPH2-Cre rats advances insight into serotonin’s role in locomotion, reinforcement, and compulsivity (www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...).

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

My first author paper is officially out!! Thank you to all of my co-authors for their help & support. So proud of the final product 😄😄

submitted 35 days ago • 7 comments

Pleased to share the final published version of @glopez.bsky.social's work in @currentbiology.bsky.social! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... "Region-specific nucleus accumbens dopamine signals encode distinct aspects of avoidance learning" Congrats, Gaby!!!

submitted 35 days ago • 6 comments

So proud of our new work comparing opioid self-administration between old (24 mo!) and young mice. We found that the old mice learned self-administration faster and took more remifentanil than the young mice. Great job team! @mikebeckstead.bsky.social @laciiiiiiiiiiii.bsky.social bit.ly/3G7lJE7

submitted 41 days ago • 2 comments

Huge congrats goes out to Dr. Morgan Johnston (@askaneuroscientist.bsky.social) for nailing her dissertation defense today! Stay tuned for her papers that will be coming out soon!

submitted 42 days ago • 0 comments

Harvard redid its whole homepage to push back against the administration’s demands. I mean, this is just a website but I think it’s kind of a great PR move: www.harvard.edu

submitted 43 days ago • 121 comments

FDA plans to phase out animal testing requirement for drug testing and replace it with “AI-based computational models of toxicity” and organoid toxicity testing www.fda.gov/news-events/...

submitted 46 days ago • 139 comments

Final_Version_of_Tarrifs_actualFINALcopy_version7_USETHISONE.docx

submitted 48 days ago • 295 comments

Some people cope by shitposting. Some people cope by working. Some people cope by marching with silly signs. Some people cope by writing letters/calling legislators. Some people cope by doomscrolling in bed while high. Some people cope by taking media breaks. Some people cope by going for walks.

submitted 48 days ago • 1 comment

Funny, that's almost exactly the entire NIH budget 🤔

submitted 49 days ago • 19 comments

NSF REU sites awarded: 2015 - 207 2016 - 232 2017 - 248 2018 - 204 2019 - 209 2020 - 222 2021 - 189 2022 - 219 2023 - 212 2024 - 217 2025 - 52 This is not likely to increase; REU awards are made early in the year to enable recruitment for summer.

submitted 49 days ago • 1 comment

Question for the masses. Anybody know if undergrads who get the NSF GRFP can defer a year? Student in my lab got one this year but did not get a grad school offer. Told her to message schools where she was declined to see if they would reconsider admittance. Input on other strategies appreciated

submitted 49 days ago • 4 comments

🚨 Not a drill: NSF GRFP results are NOW OUT!!!!! But...good news and bad news. 👍 I'm thrilled for the grad students for whom getting this award will be life-changing, esp now. 👎 # of fellowships went down by 51% (1000 this year vs. 2036 last year) See here: www.research.gov/grfp/Awardee...

submitted 49 days ago • 14 comments

Yeah this isnt good for research www.npr.org/sections/sho...

submitted 54 days ago • 0 comments

I’m tired of all of this winning

submitted 54 days ago • 0 comments

Big day for Brians! Please tag a Brian who should join us in this research. Scientists have learned a lot about brains, but they know hardly anything about Brians. That's why we're shifting from brain science to Brian science. 🧠📈 alleninstitute.org/news/announc...

submitted 56 days ago • 5 comments

Hearing from all corners of HHS this morning about a total bloodletting — firings of scientists, analysts and many more as delayed RIFs take effect. Many folks didn’t see early AM email and showed up, only to be turned away when badges didn’t work. Was sent this photo of long lines at one HHS site.

submitted 56 days ago • 207 comments

Funding curves for K and F mechanisms (Warning: the new F mechanism "curve" is a lot)

submitted 59 days ago • 4 comments

Powerful new Washington Post story up... wapo.st/426d9fT (Gift link) 1/n

submitted 60 days ago • 7 comments

Yeah this is pretty horrible www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

submitted 61 days ago • 0 comments

I wrote a piece for @thetransmitter.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/sex-differen... With the fate of NIH-funded research uncertain, it is extra important that the work we do now is most likely to benefit everyone. Adhering to SABV in the lab and in grant & paper review is the right thing to do.

submitted 63 days ago • 0 comments

My baby is getting published!!! 5 yrs of doctoral work has gone into this beautiful paper. We found that a single stress has opposite effects depending on the estrous stage of the rat. Disclaimer: being posted on BioRxiv doesn’t mean it’s peer reviewed, it’ll be a while b4 I can post that version😬🧪

submitted 64 days ago • 0 comments

every college, corporate, and nonprofit president right now

submitted 66 days ago • 127 comments

And now for a dose of positivity to end the week. Undergrad in lab gets job. Soon to be graduating PhD student lands a job. And a brand new T32 just got funded. World still sucks but there are some bright spots out there

submitted 67 days ago • 0 comments

Remembering fondly of the days when going to era commons was just for looking up grant scores and study section comments. This is in contrast to now checking on commons to see if/when a study section/council meeting will occur and if a grant will be magically pulled for some 'offensive' words

submitted 70 days ago • 1 comment

very excited to do 2002/2003 except somehow stupider and potentially more destructive

submitted 70 days ago • 254 comments

I finally get it. WH is treating the stock market like golf. So the 9% drop in the market over the past month is like winning bigly

submitted 75 days ago • 0 comments

New work from the lab published at @cp-neuron.bsky.social. In this study we dissect the role of hormonal regulation in pain-induced enhanced opioid intake in males. Work conducted by the super talented @jessinbotham www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

submitted 78 days ago • 1 comment

Check out a new lab paper from Mayumi Watanabe's thesis work showing how different subregions of medial prefrontal cortex differentially regulate extinction of aversive memories through projections to the locus-coeruleus-noradrenaline system: doi.org/10.1038/s413...

submitted 81 days ago • 3 comments

As if it wasn't clear already, this is a full on assault on education www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

submitted 81 days ago • 1 comment

“We’re actually going to kill people is what it amounts to” new piece in AP on NIH funding cuts and grant review delays…lil’ quote from yours truly in there too 😊 apnews.com/article/trum...

submitted 82 days ago • 2 comments

The NIH is propagating institutional bigotry and hatred in arbitrarily terminating funding for a project that aimed to increase representation of the LGBTQ+ community in Alzheimer's research... that is, to make said research more impactful, better & more inclusive With this decision, we all lose.

submitted 87 days ago • 0 comments

The horror show moves to the next level… Grant termination based on studying transgender issues!

submitted 87 days ago • 6 comments