So excited to announce our search for 4 postdocs (funded by the Simons Foundation) who will use genomics to "test how ecological interactions, natural selection, natural enemies, hybridization & environmental gradients shape...tropical tree communities" in Panama: stri.si.edu/story/bci-ev... ...1

Maybe there is hope for this one. Although a small grant this is a very new project direction for my lab and I am glad that reviewers found it exciting. Fingers crossed for this one.

everything is probably smarter than we think

Long-term editing of brain circuits with engineered electrical synapses! I still remember years ago when Kafui Dzirasa from @dukeuni.bsky.social @hhmi-science.bsky.social called me beaming with excitement about this new technology. Here it is today in Nature. www.nature.com/articles/s41... .

🧠 Statement from @network-alba.bsky.social! 🌍 The ALBA Network is deeply concerned with growing visa barriers and calls on the global community to take action and ensure a fair and inclusive system that strengthens global neuroscience. ✍️ buff.ly/fHP50G1 👉 Sign: buff.ly/G2NeO9X

At this point my entire career just feels “competitive not discussed.”

Can a single brain cell decide whether to eat or not? 🧠🪰 Turns out... yes. And we found it in the fruit fly. A pair of neurons called SELKs (subesophageal leucokinin neurons) can drive feeding behavior in both directions. They promote it or suppress it. Here's how: 🧵

Excited to share our latest paper from the lab, now out in iScience! 🧠✨ Huge credit to the incredible team whose creativity and hard work made this study possible—so proud of my team! 🙌 #Neuroscience #Sleep #Drosophila #Behavior #Connectomics www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Another breakthrough in connectomics!!!

We are so looking forward to CSHL Neurobiology of Drosophila 2026 🔬 🧠. The new application deadline is April 13th. Come join us! @cshlnews.bsky.social @cshlcourses.bsky.social @rister.bsky.social

New article from @cientificolatino.com !!! On the struggles of first year grad students and how to support them 💜

📢 Join us, the Haberkern lab, @uni-wuerzburg.de for a postdoc studying neural circuit mechanisms of navigation. You’ll spearheading neurophysiology experiments on our brand new 2P! ⏳ Apply by 28th February 2026 Details: www.haberkernlab.de/docs/ENPostd... #neuroscience #academicjobs #postdoc

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... We had a lot of fun working on this project (led by Itzel Ishida, not on bluesky). Some interesting highlights from the paper -

We’re excited to announce @tarnopol.bsky.social as the recipient of the 2026 Larry Sandler Award! 🎉 She’ll present the Larry Sandler Memorial Lecture during the #Dros26 opening session on March 4—she'll share how her research explores how protein toxins evolve to shape host–parasite interactions.

"researchers have found that the relentless males are driving their population to extinction." Well, that sounds familiar... www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/s...

If you are interested in my research program and also want industry experience here is the opportunity for us to work together.

News from central Jersey: I'm running to represent New Jersey's 12th Congressional District. By entering the fray, I hope to bring ideas of repairing our frayed republic. Not only to defend it in 2026, but to build something stronger, for generations to come! samwang.substack.com/p/entering-t...

Educators, the deadline to apply for our python workshop is approaching quickly! Apply by February 2 to join us in Seattle for this hands-on workshop. 💻 No prior coding experience needed. ✈️ Travel, meals, & stipend included. 🔗 https://alleninstitute.org/events/educator-coding-workshop-2026/

The second paper from the lab is now available on bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... We discovered that cannibalistic behavior in fly larvae is social-context dependent. Larval groups avoid dead conspecifics; individuals show high attraction. They only do it when no one is watching 😉

Another cool paper from Iran: nature.com/articles/s41... Prenatal stress makes mouse offspring more anxious, hyperactive, forgetful, and more drawn to morphine while laterodorsal tegmentum cholinergic neurons become hyperexcitable. From Kerman, a city with reported violent crackdowns on protests.

So I guess we went from not discussed to competitive not discussed. What a tease!!!

Please apply. Amazing opportunity to dive into connectomics datasets for research, educational initiatives, outreach and whatever else your heart desires. Feb 2nd deadline.

“Not discussed” on NIH eRA today. My next few months have been planned out for me so I guess we do nothing today or this week. Maybe start with the 3hr 40 min Bollywood movie that everyone is recommending.

Infra-slow brain rhythms found in sleep in lizards, humans, rats and pigeons! www.nature.com/articles/s41... Congrats @antbergel.bsky.social!

Teach neuroscience to undergrads? Learn how to incorporate our connectomics data into your courses! 🗓️ July 23-24 🛫 Travel funds available ⏳ Apply by Feb. 2. https://alleninstitute.org/events/incorporating-open-connectomics-data-into-teaching-neuroscience/

*First preprint from our lab* !!!!! How does the brain learn to anchor its internal sense of direction to the outside world? 🧭 led by Mark Plitt @markplitt.bsky.social & Dan Turner-Evans, w/ Vivek Jayaraman: “Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Thread ⬇️

Electron microscopy is @nature.com's Method of the Year! 🧠🔬🏆 @natmethods.nature.com shares why MICrONS and FlyWire are proof that #ElectronMicroscopy is helping us see the brain and its incredible complexity at a new level: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-025-02988-6 🧠📈 #studyBRAIN

No NCE button for R15s nearing their end date—1st NCEs need prior approval through the NIH Prior Approval Module. More steps, delays, and stress since active R15 PIs can’t be PIs on other NIH grants. Nothing I submitted in 2025 has even been reviewed/decisioned. I guess it was nice having a lab.....

No NCE button for R15s nearing their end date—1st NCEs need prior approval through the NIH Prior Approval Module. More steps, delays, and stress since active R15 PIs can’t be PIs on other NIH grants. Nothing I submitted in 2025 has even been reviewed/decisioned. I guess it was nice having a lab.....

Excited to share the latest work from the lab: rdcu.be/eRWuD Great team effort, led by @enriberti.bsky.social first at @unil.bsky.social and now @unifr.bsky.social; with fantastic collaborators @ribeirocarlitos.bsky.social and @dahaniel.muench.bio.

When you join a lab to do some voltage imaging

@hhmi.org Summer Undergraduate Research Experience - #CechFellows named in honor of Prof Tom Cech Deadline to apply: 12/22/2025 Spend 9 weeks in a paid, mentored biomedical research experience in an HHMI lab. See you next summer!!! www.hhmi.org/programs/cec...

I will be co-teaching a summer course at Allen Institute on connectomics education please apply. Travel support, new connectomics data sets and learning directly from the scientists who built these datasets. Details here: alleninstitute.org/events/incor...

So excited for the Connections Week @CSU East Bay (Nov 4th-8th). This was so much fun to organize. If you are in the Bay Area and want to attend, please reach out

This ‘fundamental’ study reports anatomical, molecular, and functional mapping of the central complex in #Drosophila. buff.ly/7nlgaXb

We are also raising money to support undergrads at UCSF this summer! Help me, @neuronush.bsky.social and @quexarce.bsky.social buy ice cream and pizza for our little community of undergraduate researchers! 20% of sales for the rest of the month will go towards our programs!!!

“These cuts are the height of self-inflicted harm,”

R16 eligible institutions: less than $6 million/yr (total costs) from NIH in each of the preceding two fiscal years and enroll at least 25% of undergraduate students supported by Pell grants or HBCUs and TCUs. R16s were a lifeline for small univs with no other dedicated research funds.

Why do some neurons say “sleep” while others shout “stay awake!” — inside the same brain? In fruit flies, researchers just mapped the molecular chaos behind this nightly tug-of-war. And it’s wilder than we thought. buff.ly/6oWQjA2

It is not the job of higher education to pay for national priorities such as biomedical, scientific, and engineering research. That is a goal of the nation as a whole. If you want a strong nation, you have to pay for a strong nation. It can't be outsourced.

Hey science people! These crucial legal actions don't just happen. Consider donating to their organizers, e.g. @democracyforward.org. (see: democracyforward.org/updates/omni...)

We are very pleased to share that our paper on sexual dimorphism in circadian rhythms has been published in @plosbiology.org. This work was led by the very talented Aishwarya Iyer and includes contributions from three undergraduate co-authors. You can read the full study here:

✨🦟✨HOW DO MOSQUITOES HAVE SEX? ✨🦟✨ Join us for a wild journey into hidden female control, rapidly evolving stimulation devices, fierce species competition, and DEADLY MOSQUITOES! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I've been making a series of videos called "What the FUNDING" that highlight all the incredible science that federal funding supports. If DOGE just fcked up your NSF grant and you wanna collaborate on a video, lmk? I'm @science_irl on insta & TT #scicomm 🧪 #nsf

Why do some neurons say “sleep” while others shout “stay awake!” — inside the same brain? In fruit flies, researchers just mapped the molecular chaos behind this nightly tug-of-war. And it’s wilder than we thought. buff.ly/nA9M8EM

Great to see this insight article on CX tools from Rubin lab and our work on understanding sleep regulation using these lines. Thanks to @sdissel.bsky.social and Brandon Holder for writing this feature on our paper.

It's been done for a while, accepted almost a year ago, but I'm happy to share that my first analysis of the MICrONs cubic mm dataset is online! nature.com/articles/s41...

“Relevant computations happen in here too” Maimon on the limitations of pure connectivity data in the fly

If you had a U-RISE or MARC grant cancelled this week (I'm hearing the MARC programs, which are similar but at research intensive unis, were also cancelled), please be sure to update the information here: forms.gle/81iLikdBtmCP... 🧪 #AcademicSky