UCLA Neuroscience Theme

Do the same neurons hold a memory for life? Nope! UCLA’s @brainofzedzed.bsky.social & colleagues found prefrontal neurons active in learning recruit a second set into the memory network. These project to two regions w/ opposing roles in recall, so prefrontal cortex builds & coordinates the network.

Congratulations to Tom Carmichael, Chair of UCLA Neurology & a leader in our Neuroscience Theme, on his election to the National Academy of Medicine! His work on the molecular basis of brain repair after stroke, from lab to clinical trials, joins fundamental science & patient care. 🥂

New study from Jeff Bronstein, Beate Ritz & colleagues at @dgsomucla.bsky.social analyzed genetic data from 3 large population-based studies & found that a higher burden of variants in an immune-related gene was linked to about 20% higher odds of #depression in people w/ #Parkinsons. t.co/WlaG9rgfwm

The @dgsomucla.bsky.social community packed the room to hear Dr. Carlos Portera-Cailliau from UCLA Neurology describe his career-long effort to understand FMR1 & how alterations in this gene lead to fragile X syndrome & included a lively post-talk discussion about the future of #ASD therapeutics.

Neuroscience at @dgsomucla.bsky.social reaches well beyond Los Angeles. Postdoc Saray Soldado-Magraner shared her work leading neuroscience training & outreach across Africa through TReND, a program that helps build research & teaching capacity for scientists & students on the continent.

Dr. @debiaselm.bsky.social & @dgsomucla.bsky.social PhD student Adrian Escobar developed 1st-of-its-kind way to map every protein on the surface of microglia using chemically preserved human brain tissue. Read more: t.co/JwpghL3mze #UCLA #Neuroscience #Parkinsons #Alzheimers

Your birthday tells your age, but does your brain agree? A UCLA-led study from Dr. Church used brain scans to estimate brain age. Higher-than-expected brain age was associated w/ poorer working memory & executive function & differences in gut microbes. Read more: t.co/CI9oHDjPp9 #aging #neuroscience

How does a developing brain decide which cells to make? @dgsomucla.bsky.social Bhaduri & Christofk labs found metabolism may guide it. Using developing human brain tissue & lab-grown brain models, researchers found changing glucose availability shifted which brain cell types formed. t.co/NquEUpKJpd

Stress doesn’t just affect neurons. A @dgsomucla.bsky.social Khakh lab study found chronic stress changed astrocytes, cells that help support & regulate brain activity, in region related to stress. Cilia shortened & restoring them improved stress-related behaviors in mice. Read more: t.co/IhwEnLDhZb

How does your brain know when your heart is racing or your stomach is full? UCLA Health researchers Dr. Khalsa & Ajijola will lead a new NIH-funded center studying interoception: how the nervous system senses and interprets signals from inside the body. Read more: reporter.nih.gov/search/bA1ey...

Microglia are best known as the brain's cleanup crew. New paper from @dgsomucla.bsky.social @ladenardo.bsky.social & Lindsay De Biase shows they're just as important for building synapses. Great reminder that immune cells shaping our brains do far more than tidy up. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ever wonder how your brain evolved to be uniquely human, or what makes chronic stress reshape it? @dgsomucla.bsky.social just launched NeuroNotes, a digital Q&A tool letting anyone dig into cutting-edge neuroscience research on campus. Check it out! mapthemind.healthsciences.ucla.edu #neuroscience

Neurons don’t all look the same -- and where they are in the brain may help shape what they look like. An @dgsomucla -led study reconstructed 1000's of neurons from a brain region involved in movement, habits, and reward. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

What if you could explore an entire brain at nearly the scale of individual cells? @dgsomucla.bsky.social researcher Hong-Wei Dong created a 3D mouse brain atlas with 1-μm resolution, mapping 916 brain structures in remarkable detail. Paper is here: lnkd.in/eQ7gkZDa Atlas is here: lnkd.in/e2rKxKaR

Congrats to YiRong Peng, Greg Field, & Alex Huk on $8.9M BRAIN Initiative U01 from NINDS & NEI to build precision viral tools targeting specific retinal cell types. Combines genetics, viral engineering, retinal physiology, & visual processing, aimed at therapeutic potential for retinal degeneration.

Highlighting @dgsomucla.bsky.social vision research & neuroscience for folks from Senator Adam Schiff's office in DC. UCLA sent @annechurchland.bsky.social to join other delegates from CA attending the Rally for Medical Research. #SpeakUp4Science #RallyForMedicalResearch #FundNIH

A message from our Theme leader @annechurchland.bsky.social representing @dgsomucla.bsky.social at a rally for medical research in Washington D.C. #rallyformedicalresearch #neuroscience #cancerresearch #advocacy

Pingping Zhao in UCLA's Golshani Lab found 2 cell types in the nucleus accumbens that pull in opposite directions during social interaction using miniature brain-imaging microscopes & optogenetics. Balance breaks down to one cell type restored social behavior in #autism mouse model: t.co/LHBUsCudZA

Could Ozempic-type drugs treat alcohol addiction? A new review from Lara Ray (UCLA): semaglutide shows medium-to-large effects reducing drinking & craving in trials. Only 3 meds are FDA-approved for AUD & the last new one arrived in 2006. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... #GLP1 #semaglutide

New from Nicole Petersen @ UCLA: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) sites connected to lesion-based addiction recovery circuit predicted better nicotine withdrawal outcomes. Lesion & TMS data converged on same circuit, pointing to precise, testable targets for future treatment t.co/iJHgZgoERE

Our very own @aliciaizquierdo.bsky.social has been selected for an award from @bbrfoundation.bsky.social! Her work on decision-making includes studying how decision-makers account for moment-to-moment stochasticity in signals. Read more about her work & recent award here: t.co/qSsP3bojYD (PDF)

UCLA's Department of Neurobiology is hiring faculty at any career stage, from first labs to established leaders, working across genetics, circuits, computation & behavior. Know a brilliant, curious neuroscientist? Send them our way & repost! recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF11296 #professorjobs #neuroscience

How does early scientific discovery become real hope for patients? The 1st UCLA Neurology newsletter is here, illuminating @dgsomucla.bsky.social discoveries that can change lives. ✨ Read about researchers developing therapies for #Alzheimers, studying #Parkinsons disease, & more! t.co/ABSlAls3Uv

It’s heartbreaking to watch former NFL players struggle w/ memory loss, mood changes, & #CTE. New review from Drs. Giza & Prins at @dgsomucla.bsky.social traces how far the science has come. A real step toward better care. Read more: www.neurologic.theclinics.com/article/S073... #TBI #braininjury

Feeling this heat wave? 🌞 Your brain is working hard to keep your body temperature in check & new work from the Correa lab at @dgsomucla.bsky.social shows how precisely tuned that system really is. Learn how specific hypothalamic neurons control core body temperature: t.co/Sbc0Y1qIra #hormones

Proud to spotlight Patricia Nano, from @dgsomucla.bsky.social's Bhaduri Lab, explaining how brain organoids (3D mini brains) reveal new insight into human brain development & tumor formation; exactly the kind of multidisciplinary approach that closes the gap between basic research & therapeutics.

Can electricity change how human brain cells work together? New study co-led by Genevieve Konopka at @dgsomucla.bsky.social used living brain tissue obtained during neurosurgery & found stimulation strengthened coordinated activity among groups of neurons. Read more: t.co/X2qjHw9WOY #neuroscience

Nature vs nurture, reframed. A new paper shows handedness preference is innate, but the skill gap between hands comes almost entirely from practice. Elbow writing wiped out the dominant advantage entirely. Small genetic bias, huge behavioral effect from experience. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Why can't we remember things from infancy? New from @ladenardo.bsky.social @dgsomucla.bsky.social lab: brain region called retrosplenial cortex physically matures on same timeline memories shift from fleeting to permanent. Great insight on how architecture of #memory itself develops: t.co/m4Rsx1vsVV

Meet Jade Fachin, a graduate student studying sensory neurons in @dgsomucla.bsky.social @daboussi.bsky.social lab. Federal funding freezes hit her research directly, creating both financial & intellectual constraints on the work she loves. Hear her reflections in a new #UCLA podcast: t.co/7RYHRGMay5

The brain is not 1-size-fits-all. Rhonda Voskuhl at @dgsomucla has spent decades studying how biological sex shapes vulnerability to MS & neurodegeneration. The same disease progresses very differently in men & women. bri.ucla.edu/people/rhonda-voskuhl/

How are neuroscientists at @dgsomucla.bsky.social using AI to advance research, and what human oversight is still critical? Listen in on insights from our Chair @annechurchland.bsky.social! #UCLA #Neuroscience #AI #ArtificialIntelligence

The developing brain isn't just a biological puzzle; it's a metabolic one. New paper from Aparna Bhaduri's lab at @dgsomucla.bsky.social creates 1st metabolic atlas of early human cortex, revealing glucose metabolism plays direct role in shaping which cell types the brain produces: t.co/VcIW6QaWet

Theoretical & computational neuroscience is a fast-emerging strength at @dgsomucla.bsky.social. We're proud of our #UCLA neuroscience PhD students here attending the prestigious @mblscience.bsky.social Methods in Computational Neuroscience course taught by @annechurchland.bsky.social. #Neuroscience

A new award from the @simonsfoundation.org recognizes research from @dgsomucla.bsky.social's João Couto. His ultra-high-throughput approach for measuring neural activity has the potential to tackle unanswered questions in #autism research. Learn more: www.simonsfoundation.org/2026/07/31/a... #UCLA

What helps a memory stick? New UCLA-affiliated preprint found front & back of the hippocampus show different patterns of brain & gene activity during successful memory formation. Image shows 2 regions, suggesting different parts of hippocampus may support memory in different ways. t.co/rhIfO0AJMH

Why can quizzing yourself help more than just rereading? In a now-classic #UCLA study, people tried to answer questions before seeing the correct answers. Even when their first guesses were wrong, they remembered more later than people who only read the material. t.co/9p8jqYRkDr #backtoschool

How does an experience become a lasting memory? #UCLA researchers reviewed how brain regions work together as memories form. This image highlights the hippocampus & retrosplenial cortex (2 areas involved in learning) & the connections between their brain cells. Read more: doi.org/10.1002/hipo...

#Sleep is not time away from learning, but part of the process. UCLA-affiliated researchers, including #UCLA BRI leader Gina Poe, found that sleep helps the brain reorganize connections early in development and supports repair & cleanup later. Read more: science.org/doi/10.1126/... #Learning

#BackToSchool: The emotions you experience while learning shape what you remember & how. New #UCLA @davidclewett.bsky.social study finds negative emotional experiences act as dividers in memory w/ implications for learning under stress & understanding #PTSD. t.co/JxoIPrZuP3 #Memory #Neuroscience

Today's PhD students are the first to train alongside powerful AI; real opportunities & challenges for scientific publishing. This Science piece addresses both. We are committed to training @dgsomucla.bsky.social students to navigate this w rigor & integrity. science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aek5570

Meet the UCLA Neuroscience Theory Club, a student-led group dedicated to one of the most exciting emerging strengths at @dgsomucla.bsky.social: theoretical & computational approaches to understanding the brain. These students are building that culture from the ground up, on their own initiative. 🧠

Congrats to Mika Holtz & Syon Mansur, @dgsomucla.bsky.social PhD students who earned NSF Graduate Research Fellowships this year, a highly competitive award in science. But awards like this are rare & most brilliant students depend on PI grants & the philanthropic support that supports our program.

At @dgsomucla.bsky.social undergrads don't just take classes; they do real science. Elena Kong is studying how the brain develops in Down syndrome, work that could point toward new therapeutic targets & improve quality of life. This is what hands-on scientific training looks like. 🧠 #DownSyndrome

Meet the newest generation of UCLA neuroscientists. Last year's incoming PhD trainees are now joining labs & beginning research that will define the next chapter of brain science. They arrived full of curiosity & ambition during trying times & we are proud to have them at @dgsomucla.bsky.social!

Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability & most survivors never fully recover. Tom Carmichael, chair of Neurology at @dgsomucla.bsky.social, has identified a drug that mimics physical rehabilitation by restoring brain rhythms disrupted by #stroke. A pill for stroke recovery. t.co/a646Zo6j5c