Ciaran Murphy-Royal

Ciaran Murphy-Royal

@murphyroyallab.org

Neuroscientist | Associate Professor @ University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre Astrocytes as contextual regulators of brain states & behaviour PI @ murphyroyallab.org

2K followers958 following393 posts

Ciaran Murphy-Royal reposted

Michael Williamson
@m-r-williamson.bsky.social

Really happy to share the last of my postdoc work in @nature.com! Along with co-first author Junsung Woo, we identified functionally distinct astrocyte subpopulations in vivo! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comCD51 delineates functionally distinct astrocyte subtypes in neural circuits - NatureCD51+ astrocytes promote synapse formation in the developing cortex, circuit plasticity in the hippocampus and circuit remodelling after stroke.

Ciaran Murphy-Royal reposted

Matt Hill
@cannabrain.bsky.social

**Recruitment** We are looking to hire a psychiatrist/scientist (MD or MD/PhD) who focuses on neuromodulation, particularly rTMS in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Calgary. Come join myself, @mayoonthebrain.bsky.social and more. Details 👇 careers.ucalgary.ca/jobs/1829278...

careers.ucalgary.caAcademic Position in Neuromodulation Research, Department of Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine in Calgary, ...Academic Position in Neuromodulation Research, Department of Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine in Calgary, ...

Ciaran Murphy-Royal reposted

Baptiste Lacoste
@blacoste.bsky.social

🚨 Excited to share that our new paper is published today in Neuron ! We show that P2Y2 receptor activation restores cerebrovascular function and reverses behavioural impairments in mice carrying a 16p11.2 deletion. #Autism #Publication #BasicScience www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

cell.comPurinergic receptor activation rectifies autism-associated endothelial dysfunctionOuellette et al. report that a 16p11.2 deletion induces a bioenergetic failure in brain endothelial cells. Activation of purinergic signaling via P2Y2 receptors restored endothelial function and impro...
Ciaran Murphy-Royal
@murphyroyallab.org

New preprint from our close collaborator @alquierthierry.bsky.social investigating cellular mechanisms underlying whole-body energy homeostasis! In males and females nonetheless!! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.orgLipid droplet lipolysis in POMC neurons regulates energy homeostasis in a sex-specific mannerThe hypothalamus is a central regulator of glucose and energy homeostasis, with arcuate nucleus (ARC) neurons orchestrating these processes. Agouti-related peptide (AgRP) and pro-opiomelanocortin (POM...

Ciaran Murphy-Royal reposted

Robert Rozeske
@rrrozeske.bsky.social

I'm thrilled to share our recent publication “Overlapping representations in the ventral hippocampus support rapid fear memory retrieval” www.nature.com/articles/s41... We asked, what is the moment-to-moment link between HPC spatial representations, memory retrieval, and fear behaviour?

nature.comOverlapping representations in the ventral hippocampus support rapid fear memory retrieval - Nature NeuroscienceFear learning increases the similarity of threatening and neutral context representations in ventral CA1, which may enable faster reinstatement of threat memories, compared to dorsal CA1.

Ciaran Murphy-Royal reposted

Tomás Ryan
@tjryan.bsky.social

"MIT wants to rebuild education around the things AI can't replace. That means oral exams, semester portfolios, in-person project work, and a required social component in every subject. The report even floats the idea of rethinking grades entirely..." This is the way forward @tcddublin.bsky.social

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Ciaran Murphy-Royal reposted

Lewis Holt
@lewisholt.bsky.social

🚨🚨 New preprint from us at the LGC lab. Super excited to share this story since starting my post-doc! 🤩 If you are interested in astrocytes, mitochondria, and anxiety behaviour be sure to check it out!! Thanks to all the collaborators :)

bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social

Low testosterone promotes anxiety through astrocytic mitochondrial remodelling at the nucleus accumbens blood-brain barrier https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.03.749088v1

Ciaran Murphy-Royal reposted

Network Glia | European Glia Meeting
@gliameeting.bsky.social

Spotlight on Emerging Talent Congrats to Lewis Depaauw-Holt (Université de Montréal), a #GLIA2025 stipend winner! His research shows how #astrocytes regulate stress responses in a sex-specific manner by shaping orexin neuron activity and behaviour. #NetworkGlia #Astrocytes

Ciaran Murphy-Royal reposted

Carmen Sandi
@carmensandi10.bsky.social

Join us in Lausanne on 7 Oct for a 1-day Symposium We will bridge the field of stress & resilience with cognitive ageing and brain rejuvenation Outstanding keynotes, talks, posters & discussion Places first come first served Poster abstracts + registration by 7 Sept: www.epfl.ch/research/dom...

Ciaran Murphy-Royal reposted

Lewis Holt
@lewisholt.bsky.social

🚨🚨 just over 2-months until the Brain Resilience Symposium here at EPFL! Super excited to be sharing some of the work we've been doing here in the LGC lab 💪

Ciaran Murphy-Royal
@murphyroyallab.org

Excellent reporting on astrocyte-engram work from @junnagai.bsky.social, @m-r-williamson.bsky.social and others. This article captures just how much of a frontier research area astrocyte engrams represent, and I’m excited to see how the field unfolds. www.thetransmitter.org/memory/are-p...

thetransmitter.orgAre parts of the memory trace found in the ‘astroengram?’Neurons have long taken top billing in memory, but researchers are making the case for astrocytes.

Ciaran Murphy-Royal reposted

Dr. Cate Peña
@cate-cholamine.bsky.social

So proud to have “Early-life stress alters H3K4me1 in VTA to prime stress sensitivity” out now in Neuron! This work spanned Many years and Many people contributed. Huge thanks to @hyejaykim.bsky.social, @ja-balouek.bsky.social, Luke Geiger, and Meaghan Creed www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

cell.comEarly-life stress alters H3K4me1 in VTA to prime stress sensitivityKim, Geiger et al. report that early-life stress increases the chromatin modification H3K4me1 and its enzymatic writer, SETD7, in the ventral tegmental area. They show that this form of epigenetic pri...

Ciaran Murphy-Royal reposted

Isabelle Arnoux
@isabellearnoux.bsky.social

The social event of the European Glial Cells Network was a fantastic opportunity to meet, connect, and exchange ideas with fellow glial cell researchers over delicious tapas 🥘, refreshing beers 🍻, and authentic sangria 🍷. Great conversations, new connections, and a wonderful atmosphere! 🧠✨ #FENSGlia

Ciaran Murphy-Royal reposted

Network Glia | European Glia Meeting
@gliameeting.bsky.social

FENSGlia – Building the International Glia Community We end today's series by bringing the community together! Join us for the #FENSGlia Social Evening on Wed, 8 July, 20:00 at Plaça d'Osca, Barcelona. Wear your GLIA sticker from Booth 158 to spot fellow gliologists. See you there! #FENS2026

Ciaran Murphy-Royal reposted

Kurt Fraser
@kurtfraser.bsky.social

I'm looking to hire a research technician/lab manager. This role is ideal for someone looking to gain experience and independence after undergraduate research on their way to graduate school. Please encourage anyone interested to apply: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/374... (job code 374183)

hr.myu.umn.eduCareersThe Fraser Lab at the University of Minnesota (https://fraserlab.psych.umn.edu/) is recruiting a full-time research technician to support the lab. As a part of the Department of Psychology we are involved in the greater neuroscience research community at the University of Minnesota which provides excellent access to training and professional development. The Fraser Lab is interested in the neurobiological basis of motivated behavior and investigates how defined brain circuits contribute to behavioral regulation. We make use of modern neuroscience approaches to record and manipulate neural activity in real-time as rodents perform complex behavioral tasks to relate precise aspects of neural activity to well-defined psychological processes. To do so, we regularly use optogenetics, chemogenetics, calcium imaging, biosensors, pharmacology, and immunohistochemistry. Our ultimate goal is to decipher the neural mechanisms regulating behavior and to characterize how these are altered in psychiatric illness, such as addiction, or by differences in lived experience, such as after early life adversity, to potentially identify novel therapeutics. We seek a team member who can play a lead role in lab operations, collaborate closely with the PI, and engage in team-building and growth.Duties:Laboratory logistics, maintenance and operations (30%):
Ciaran Murphy-Royal
@murphyroyallab.org

Great initiative from Marie-Josette de Medeiros (PhD student) who invited a group of local high-school students to spend a day seeing what being a scientist is all about ! Most have never visited a lab, so it’ll be interesting to hear their opinions by the end of the day.

Ciaran Murphy-Royal reposted

João Filipe Oliveira
@joaofoliveira.bsky.social

🧠 New preprint from our lab! #Hippocampal #astrocytes actively contribute to: 👉 the encoding of #context-specific #aversive stimuli 👉 predict #recall of #fear #behavior. @icvs-uminho.bsky.social @caixaresearch.bsky.social #PTglia

bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social

Hippocampal astrocytes contribute to encoding context-specific aversive stimuli to regulate fear-related behavior https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.22.727208v1

Ciaran Murphy-Royal
@murphyroyallab.org

Lots of great feedback on some of the lab work I shared today at CANGlia. Thanks to all the organisers for putting on such a fantastic meeting!

CANGlia@canglia.bsky.social

Dr. Murphy-Royal closing out our symposium today with a great talk about early life stress and #astrocytes!!

Ciaran Murphy-Royal reposted

Sylvain Baillet
@sylvainbaillet.bsky.social

Congrats to @maxlevinson.bsky.social for pulling this off in the middle of 2020's lockdown and the shortage of liquid helium in 🇨🇦. Grateful to our 🇬🇧 colleagues who saved us with grace and wit and more.

Max Levinson@maxlevinson.bsky.social

NEW PAPER🚨👀 in Science Advances with a wonderful transatlantic team. (incl @sylvainbaillet.bsky.social @olejensen.bsky.social @katduecker.bsky.social) Using human MEG, we found lower-order and higher-order neural processes that underlie illusory transitions in conscious visual perception. 🧵👇

science.orgHierarchical brain dynamics supporting visual perceptual transitionsIllusory transitions in conscious visual perception involve both early visual cortex and higher-order motor cortices.

Ciaran Murphy-Royal reposted

Paul Frankland
@franklandlab.bsky.social

Sharing the latest from the lab. Led by Yunlong Liu, this work explores how microglia and engram neurons interact during fear extinction in the hippocampus. rdcu.be/fgNH7

rdcu.beMicroglia-dependent regulation of fear memory extinctionNature Neuroscience - Liu et al. show in mice that microglia are recruited to the soma and dendritic processes of fear engram neurons during extinction learning and that they weaken fear memories...