Textbooks said neurons don’t burn fatty acids for energy🤔. Our study delivers the first in vivo demonstration that fatty acid oxidation in defined memory neurons fuels memory formation. Closing chapter of my PhD 🥳, out today in Nature Metabolism💥 @natmetabolism.nature.com

Pablo Villar and team uncover molecules and receptors underlying octopus mating. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Ive seen this work from Prof Liqun Luo’s presented a few times now and its stunning and heroic.

A funny conversation with a newcomer at the contra dance in Woods Hole last night: Me: What brings you to Woods Hole? He: I’m a neuroscientist, working on octopuses. Me: I’m a neuroscientist too! I study patches of human cortex that do ridiculously specific things. He: Oh like that Kanwisher stuff?

Three new papers in Science report that astrocytes are indispensable for neuromodulatory signaling across diverse neural circuits, behavioral contexts, and species. Learn more in a new #SciencePerspective: scim.ag/43iprSX

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... How astrocytes modulate neural circuits & behavior is a fundamental question. Amazing work led by Kevin in Marc Freeman’s lab to reveal octopamine-tyramine exposure enables astrocytes to respond to neurotransmitters by adrenergic gating.

I got into Hopkins and went to Jefferson for my PhD due to Reasons™️. I had an amazing experience at Jefferson and was able to balance my other needs. Partners, caregiving, proximity to family, hobbies, or cultural community are also valid considerations when selecting an academic home!

Awesome program (booklet and speaker list) organized by our students for our annual symposium at Snowbird!

Looking forward to a phenomenal weekend of science and catching up with old and new faces at the Midwest #Drosophila Meeting ! P.S Shameless talk plug in - Oct 18th, 4.15 pm on how Gpdh1 interacts with Tor signaling to control brain growth. #neurobio #metabolism #devbio @flybase.bsky.social

I’m extremely honored to be a recipient of the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award!

A study by Dorothy P. Schafer, PhD, and Travis E. Faust, PhD, in Cell explains how cell types in the brain communicate in response to changes in sensory input to remodel synapses: direc.to/nJHH Alzheimer’s and ALS patients have synaptic damage. @travisfaust.bsky.social @cp-cell.bsky.social

Thrilled to announce that I will be joining the @mountsinaicvri.bsky.social at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai as an Assistant Professor in January! My laboratory will focus on nutrient transport and cellular metabolism in physiology and disease.

Happy to share our new paper in @nature.com led by staff scientist Xuejing Liu. We report identification of a UCP1-independent pathway of brown fat thermogenesis involving ATP-consuming metabolism of BCFA in peroxisomes. #Obesity #T2D www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Thrilled to share our new paper @cp-cell.bsky.social: “Microglia–astrocyte crosstalk regulates synapse remodeling via Wnt signaling.” This work demonstrates the necessity of glia–glia communication and coordination during synapse remodeling. 🔗 www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... Faust et al., Cell 2025

Neutral lipid processing in glia is sexually dimorphic and promotes sleep through diacylglycerol catabolism https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.10.674993v1

Congratulations to Tomasz Nowakowski, PhD, on being named a finalist for the prestigious Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists! 🎉 He was selected for his groundbreaking research shaping the future of neuroscience and medicine. stemcell.ucsf.edu/news/tomasz-... @ucsfstemcell.bsky.social 🧪 🧠📈

David Baltimore, Nobel-Winning Molecular Biologist, Dies at 87 www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/s...

Congratulations Rory! ✨

It was inspiring to attend the Changing brain conference. Some brilliant science across the field of neuroscience was on display.Fortunate to have presented my research and discuss it some of the best neuroscientists in USA & Europe. Thanks for the travel support from the organising committee.

A phenomenal talk and a fantastic kickstart to our fall gcdb seminar series by @mariadelapax.bsky.social this afternoon! @iubiology.bsky.social 👏🏽🎉

For those in Iowa State and in the area, we have a fantastic start to the GDCB departmental seminar for Fall 2025 as we host Prof. Alejandro Sanchez Alvarado @planaria1.bsky.social from the Stowers Institute @stowersinstitute.bsky.social. It is an honor & privilege to host him. ✨

We are still accepting applications for the #postdoc opportunity in the lab 🕵‍♀️ 🧠 More details 👇 Postdoctoral position: lnkd.in/g4TkRxpM Research directions: lnkd.in/eV2iMKGf Our team and philosophy: lnkd.in/eh3nnNgq ⏬

1/New paper on peroxisome assembly, reporting the detailed mechanism of PEX39, a new peroxin involved in PTS2 protein transport. Fantastic work by ‪@walterwchen.bsky.social‬ and a dream team of collaborators, as explained below. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congrats @rafsarnataro.bsky.social !! 🎉 Brilliant work from Gero Meisenbock’s group in Oxford.

Check out our work in @genetics-gsa.bsky.social #G3journal on new #Drosophila tools for studying D-2HG #oncometabolite in a context dependent manner during development and disease. #devbio #genetics #metabolism @tennessenlab.bsky.social @superflymr.bsky.social @iubiology.bsky.social

Peroxisomal import is circadian in glia and regulates sleep and lipid metabolism https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.23.661129v1

Preprint for my PhD. Thanks to Dr. Bai for letting me merge my interests in neuroscience with lab focus on peroxisome. We discover unexpectedly cell type specific peroxisomal import in subset of glia under autonomous circadian regulations. Gratitude to Dr. John Vaughen for his support. Thread soon.

Congratulations Yvette! Brilliant news!🎉🎊

Very useful overview, especially for the Drosophila-curious. It’s easy to bring the power of fly genetics to your neurobiology questions.

Thanks to my peers who attended today’s departmental seminar where I talked about my PhD research. Also, excited & elated to have gotten the travel award from UC Irvine & the Centre for Neural Circuit Mapping organising team for the Changing Brain conference later this summer. Happy to be selected!

Nature research paper: Sleep pressure accumulates in a voltage-gated lipid peroxidation memory https://go.nature.com/4bG20He

It was great to have the fabulous @SchaferLabUMass Dr. Dori Schafer visiting & enlighten us on the awesome microglia-immune interactions in the brain in context of aging, neurodegeneration. One of the best talks I have heard in the recent times with really exciting science.

GDCB Iowa State University Seminar - MemBrain Lab www.membrainlab.com/1/post/2024/... Late post - but grateful and had fun hosting my friend and scientific collaborator Dr.John Vaughen who is a freshly minted PI at UCSF, department of Anatomy, UCSF, Parnassus campus. Circa ~ November 2024

I know there's a 𝒍𝒐𝒕 going on right now, but I couldn’t be prouder to share this long-incubated labor of love: the complete connectome of the male 𝐷𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑎 optic lobe 🧠🪰 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

1st citations are always special! Makes me extra happy when one of the leaders in the glial field like Christian Klambt are acknowledging of the work! 🎊😁

BIG NEWS! The Mosquito Cell Atlas preprint is live! 🦟🧬 My first senior author paper! Massive and accessible snRNA-seq dataset and a lot of cool mosquito biology. A true collaborative achievement! #MCA biorxiv.org/content/10.1... See @oliviagoldman.net thread here

I am super excited to share our article addressing a longstanding question in neurobiology: how Ca²⁺ signaling cascades initiated at dendritic spines operate at a distance. Check it out here: authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S... @cp-cell.bsky.social.

If anyone is attending CellBio2024. Feel free to reach out prior or after my microsymposium (details below - at 10:40am; Room30C). Also, presenting my poster tomorrow at 1:30Pm (Board No B454) during Neuronal Biomechanics & Activity poster session.

academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad... Available in final print form now! 🎉