Marina Picciotto
@MarinaP63
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Yale Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program Director, Molecular Psychiatry at Yale
New Haven, CT
Joined November 2010
A brilliant engineer/mathematician who was denied entry to engineering schools but went on to design ships for the navy, working her way up from typist and taking computer classes at night. Raye Montague dies at 83. Please celebrate her and tell her story
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This evening my mom, Skai Varkalis Ahern, died in NYC. She survived infection with COVID19, but she never recovered enough to leave a hospital bed. She died after developing a bacterial infection. 1/.
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Done - submit your paper as a single PDF in any format to JNeurosci. We will review and you will only have to reformat if we invite a revision @SfNJournals @SfNtweets.
Let authors submit manuscripts in any format they wish for the initial submission.
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BethAnn McLaughlin is no longer on the editorial board of JNeuroscience and does not have access to the @JNeuroscience Twitter account. Dissemination of false information is incompatible with the principles of JNeurosci.
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There’s something odd about this picture someone just posted from a symposium on the future of synaptic vesicle science, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
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So this is it - the last time I get to Tweet the cover of JNeurosci as EiC. Thank you authors, reviewers, editors and readers! You make JN the kind of journal I have been proud to be part of ❤️
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Who thinks neurons are the most beautiful cells? And I bet a lot of you have pictures to back it up.
Dye-injected Purkinje cells in mouse cerebellum!.🔎20x (objective lens magnification).🔬Confocal.📷Benjamin Barti.#science #microscopy #microscope #CellBiology #neurobiology #mouse
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Having a cohort matters. Critical mass matters. One in a room sits silent. Two in a room exchange glances. Three in a room start to make a difference.
A recent PNAS study found that high-performing women have one thing in common: they have a tight-knit circle of other women who help them with “gender-specific private information and support. @Refinery29 Article source:
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The discovery of nerve growth factor would have been impressive even if the work hadn’t started in her bedroom while hiding from the Nazi’s, but Dr. Levi Montalcini’s story and tenacity are phenomenal.
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@ChrisThayerSays Also, women in their 20’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Women in their 70’s want Calphalon.
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The time has come. Many of you have never held a hard copy of JNeurosci in your hands and have never wanted to. Some of you have framed cover(s) on your walls (I've seen them!) This is the last issue to appear both in print and online. Farewell, print 😢
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Whoever tweeted yesterday that you can hold down the space bar on your phone and use it to move your cursor: YOU HAVE CHANGED MY LIFE! It may have only improved your life 1%, but it has turned mine upside down. Thank you! I will shout this to the world.
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Earlier this week students asked what kept me going through difficult times during my PhD. I had an "Alternate Career of the Week" so that I knew I had other possibilities and was making an active choice to stay in grad school. What's your favorite Alternate Career of the Week?.
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and still work hard for others. She wanted her daughter to be self sufficient and independent, and that, along with her love for me, are a big reason I am who I am. Skai, you were a survivor. I love you. 14/14.
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As a white person, the safety I feel in my home and town allows me to devote energy to thinking about my family and work. Black Americans aren’t safe in their homes, in parks, in stores, on streets or in medical settings. We are not helpless to change this #BlackLivesMatter.
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Paul Greengard lived life fully for more than 93 years. He was my mentor but also my example of how to live a life of loving science.
Paul Greengard: "What do you say to male academics who don’t support women in science?” “I don’t speak to them.”
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A shout out to @EricJNestler who took a chance on me and hired me as an assistant professor (back in the last century), then taught me how to be a successful academic scientist, both explicitly and by example. Thanks Eric!
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I have an acetylcholine joke, but no one is paying attention.
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I am particularly awed that Dr. Grafstein supports this award herself. Thank you to Dr. G., but especially to the trainees in my lab who have taught me more about how to mentor than anyone else 💕.
Congratulations to @MarinaP63 from @YaleMed from winning the Bernice Grafstein Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Mentoring on Tuesday at #SfN19! The Grafstein Award is supported by Bernice Grafstein.
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Inspirational, brilliant scientist Dr. Levi-Montalcini discovered Nerve Growth Factor in 1952. By the way, she lived to be 103 years old.
This week on #hiStoriesofWiN we honor Dr. Rita Levi-Montalcini. Born to a Jewish Italian family in 1909, her life was legendary. During the holocaust she set up a lab in her room. In 1952 she discovered the nerve growth factor & later received a Nobel prize for it. #WomenInSTEM
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#SfN23 is done and it was outstanding. Toeveryone who attended or to those of you who couldn’t make it and have FOMO, see you in Chicago in 2024!
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Neurotwitter, tell me these clouds don’t remind you of the denture gyrus
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Hey neuro friends, please welcome @KateWassum as a new Reviewing Editor at JNeuroscience today @SfNJournals.
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Science Twitter, you need to retweet this. Repeat, tax cuts for billionaires paid for by taxing grad students who get tuition waivers
Holy crap - bad hit for science education. Tax cut for corporations plan would fund it by taxing tuition waivers for grad students
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We have a study out today on a new circuit that encodes information about reward that I am very excited to share from Twitterless lead author Wenliang Zhou. Time for a Tweet walk 1/20
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How beautiful is the peripheral nervous system? Check out the vagal and spinal neurons innervating mouse GI tract on the cover of JNeurosci this week and read about threat representation in a human anxiety task, wnt signaling and neuropathic pain, and more
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Making pipe cleaner neurons and wearing an astrocyte hat at the Brain Awareness Campaign event #sfn2024
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I am proud to be one of 1 Million Women in STEM! 🧪 🧫 🧬.
THREAD 39/100 . Hey Marina R. Picciotto- a Professor in Psychiatry/ Neuroscience- who's job is overseeing the research in her laboratory. She is also the editor in chief of the Journal of Neuroscience. Wow!. Ft & thx @MarinaP63.
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Depression can be fatal. Addiction can be fatal. These are brain diseases and not ‘problems of character’. Developing effective treatments for psychiatric illness must be a priority for both basic research and pharma
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Dr. Mary Jeanne Kreek battled hard for access to methadone treatment and insisted on science over politics in treatment for opiate users. She sought me out and supported me as a young PI entering the addiction field. She was a formidable scientist and person.
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“Dream with ambition. Lead with conviction and see yourselves in ways that others may not” Kamala Harris speaks to young women.
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The 6 foot tall woman who wore this prosthetic eye 5000 years ago must have been fierce.
5,000-year-old prosthetic eye made from a mixture of natural tar and animal fat. This incredible object was found near the city of Zabol in Iran. The world's earliest prosthetic eye, which was once painted gold, was worn by a woman who stood 6’ tall:
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So. Many. Neuroscientists. And then, out of the blue, this baby sloth. You’re welcome.
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Today we celebrated the life and work of Ron Duman. I’ve been a little too stunned to write about Ron this last week, but I want everyone to know how important he was to me and to those of us who worked with him. Having an example of someone who was both an inspiring 1/
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Find someone who looks at you the way I am looking at this 3D printed human alpha4/beta2/alpha5 nAChR 😻 that @kwanalexc gave me
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Interested in neurobiology of addiction? Join the conversation every Thursday starting March 4th for World-Wide Seminars on the Neurobiology of Addiction. Inaugural speaker @triciajanak . Register: Info: @Meaghan_Creed @EricJNestler @LUSCHERC @MarinaP63
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Congratulations to all the new HHMI investigators, with a special shout out to neuroscientists @KafuiDzirasa @kaymtye @c_eroglu @michelle_monje @vanessaruta @Bautista_DianaM What an incredible group! I can’t wait to see what you all discover.
HHMI News: We are proud to announce our 33 new #HHMIInvestigators. These individuals have the potential to make transformative discoveries over time and we look forward to seeing where their ideas lead them.
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Mice aren’t stupid - they just don’t want to please their scientist overlords. Give them a task ethologically designed for a prey animal and not a little rat predator, and they might be more willing to please.
Louder for the people in the back 👏.
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I don’t think this would have happened without the tenacity of @McLNeuro who has helped so many tell their stories and advocated for consequences for their harassers.
The governing body of the American Association for the Advancement of Science voted Saturday to enact a policy under which an elected AAAS Fellow’s lifetime honor can be revoked for proven scientific misconduct or serious breaches of professional ethics.
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One of my human and scientific idols has died. Thank you Ben Barres for all you have done for science, scientists and people
Ben Barres, who showed how important glial cells are to the brain, has died.
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Keep Zoom meetings from draining your life force by using these backgrounds based on JNeurosci covers. Send each family member a different one, and your next Zoom happy hour with Aunt Jean will be a neuro-extravaganza!
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Sharing a new paper from our lab from first author Yann Mineur, who is not on Twitter demonstrating a role for acetylcholine release in hippocampus in stress-induced behaviors (1/n, a thread)
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Dr. Leslie Vosshall is dedicating her Pradel Prize money to helping early career female neuroscientists who are struggling with the consequences of the pandemic. See below on how to apply.
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Kids asked to draw a scientist in the 60’s vs. today - from 1% to more than half women
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I tried to write in a coffee shop and now I am so far over the caffeine dose-response curve that I need more skins to jump out of. Also, selfie on a Vespa
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After watching these optic nerves move, I plan to spend the rest of my life not moving my head and starting fixedly at a single point.
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Paul Greengard: "What do you say to male academics who don’t support women in science?” “I don’t speak to them.”
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The Picciotto Lab is hiring! We have room for trainees at any level who are collaborative, risk-taking and want to learn new things. For one of the funded projects we are particularly interested in experience with alcohol research involving mice (but always, ACh and nicotine too)
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Selfie while getting ready for the Meet the Experts session this morning
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Olympian and neurobiologist @ItsGabrielleT !.
Gabby Thomas' passion for neurobiology came from her two brothers ❤️ @ItsGabrielleT . (via @TheUndefeated)
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Dr. Woolley has made fundamental discoveries in hippocampus physiology also relevant to sex-dependent functions of synapses and circuits. Dr. Woolley is also one of the most fundamentally ethical people I know. This induction into the NAM recognizes an incredible scientist.
Huge cheers for neurobiologist Catherine Woolley! She (& 3 other #Northwestern profs) have been elected to the prestigious Natl Academy of Medicine. Woolley says the honor reflects the value of “fundamental science”: @theNAMedicine #NAMmtg
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Are you a senior postdoc in neuroscience and/or psychiatry interested in giving a talk to our Molecular Psychiatry group @YalePsych ? We would love to hear about your work! . Sign up to be considered at . PLEASE RETWEET!!!
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I tell myself that I have to make every mistake once to become competent/expert at a technique. Every big screw up is one more way to do it wrong crosssed off the list - one mistake closer to mastery. How can you help future trainees if you haven’t made the mistake yourself?.
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In honor of #InternationalWomenInScienceDay tell me a story of a scientist whose work inspired you or who helped get you started. I will start with Francine Salzman who taught me chemistry and was one of the people who made me love molecules.
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I'm Marina, #ActualLivingScientist. I don't pipette anymore, but I'm interested in how single molecules affect complex behavior #WomenInSTEM
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Evidence that publicly calling out leadership is still required to increase representation in positions involving high level scientific decision making.
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@MatteoCarandini @christlet @SfNtweets @NeuroCellPress You analyzed data from SfN abstracts and put it in Neuron? Give JNeurosci a shot at the study next time!.
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This is more of a hypothesis piece than a full review. I am often asked how ACh can play a role in anxiety and depression since many think of its role in cognition. We propose here that ACh contributes to the negative encoding bias that is often observed with human depression.
SPECIAL REVIEW in @EJNeuroscience.The role of acetylcholine in negative encoding bias: Too much of a good thing? .By Yann S. Mineur & Marina R. Picciotto @MarinaP63 of @YaleMed.#learning #memory #attention .
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This! You are more than your results. You are more than your data. You are not diminished by the experiments that don’t work. It took me forever to uncouple my self image from my lab successes (and more often, failures).
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her high school class and got a scholarship to go to Indiana University. This is her graduation picture: 5/
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For those of you who love neurons, have I got a treat for you. This week in JNeurosci find out how different subtypes fire during sleep in mice, interoception and emotion in humans with neurodeneration, tau cell death in human neurons, and much more
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Thank you Justice Ginsburg for the legacy you have left for us.
BREAKING: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who charted a course for women’s rights at the U.S. Supreme Court and became a legal, cultural and feminist icon, has died from complications from cancer. She was 87.
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@RobertKennedyJr @CBSNews No. This is anti-scientific, fear-mongering that could lead to many deaths of people who trust your misguided fears and don't get vaccinated, which is still the safest way to protect our teens, adults and children from preventable communicable diseases.
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I am filled. With the power. Of coffee. How did I not discover this wonder at an early age like the rest of humanity?.
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Look at those brave growing neurons.
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Just got my first ever food processor (Cuisinart 13 cup). Twitter, how is this going to change my life?.
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I'm going to try my first Science Twitter Valentine:. Roses are red,.Twitter loves a meme,.Acetylcholine is super cool,.But nAChRs are supreme. Did I get that right?.
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a full and generous life. She loved coffee ice cream and real caramel sauce, and I am glad that the last time I was able to be with her that I could take her out for ice cream. She was an example of how to be completely and unapologetically oneself 13/.
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This might be a good time to remind reviewers to enter the name and email of your trainee co-reviewers whenever they help with a review. @sfnjournals we formally acknowledge co-reviewers every year. It's good for your trainees' CV, and its required!
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Had some #impostersyndrome time yesterday thinking about whether I could follow through on some out-there ideas. I said, “get thee behind me, doubts,” but they didn’t really go. Yoga in the evening helped a lot and feeling good today. #ithappenstoallofus.
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The best measure of addiction to smoking is how soon after waking up do you smoke the first cigarette. Now apply that metric to reaching for your cell phone. .
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Dolphins in the East River! This is the coolest. When I was a kid, we thought that if we put our hands into any of the rivers around NYC they would dissolve. Clean water and clean air legislation makes a difference.
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Tom Kash is addressing the Great Hall @SfNtweets to formally accept the Waletzky Award. Congratulations again @superkash
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He dared me to tweet his photo, so here you are, my NIDA host, @yavinshaham Follow him to see the ‘paper of the week’ tweets, often on addiction
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Happy 100th birthday to Brenda Milner, pioneering neuropsychologist
Legendary neuropsychologist Brenda Milner is 100 today and still working in the field. There's a great profile in Current Biology: "Brenda Milner and the origins of cognitive neuroscience"
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Are you a postdoc who has a scientific story to tell? Please apply to give a talk to the Yale Molecular Psychiatry seminar series this academic year! . Link to apply:
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I am a @GDunnArt superfan, so receiving an original interpretation of my favorite receptor was amazing. Here it is over my couch. Thank you @cmuneurosci @ShinnCunningham !!!
A commission for the brilliant Dr. Marina Picciotto @MarinaP63 for her work in addiction. This is the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, a combination of gold leafing, ink, resin, and fingerpainting on glass. Techniques developed while fingerpainting in the bathtub with my kids!
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New Picciotto Lab paper on BioRxiv today about how ACh modulates the BLA GABA network during active and passive coping with stressors. A TweetStory to come, but for now, please let us know what you think about the data
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While preparing for a talk last night I was reminded of the lasting impact that the ideas and work of @DrNadiaChaudhri have had on the field studying nicotine addiction - thank you Nadia! Here’s an example:
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Best logo EVER! A little known fact is that every year the SfN annual meeting logo represents the work of that year’s SfN president. Guess this year’s logo!.
Meet Marina Picciotto, PhD, (@MarinaP63) SfN’s president!. Her research focuses on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and their role in neurons, circuits, and behavior which is represented in this year’s logo. Discover the story and science behind #SfN24 logo and get prepared for
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And we're back! First issue of 2020, first official JNeurosci celebration of SfN's 50th Anniversary and first neuron that Kristen Harris stained in her 1982 PhD thesis on the cover. Happy 2020 Neuro Tweeps! Let's have a roaring decade of neuro research
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Go out and find this book! @susanmagsamen pulls together neuroscience and art and discusses how our brains need art to live coherently in the world
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It never fails - I just got that rush of excitement as I walked in for the first day of #SfN2023
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her love for her kid. No matter how dissociated she might be, she knew and loved her daughter. For the long stretches between illness, she was an incredible teacher and her students at BMCC loved her for her devotion to them and her confidence they could succeed 10/.
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In the NYC area? Check out an amazing Ramón y Cajal show at NYU that opened today @SloanPublic The @SloanFoundation-supported exhibition "The Beautiful Brain: The Drawings of Santiago Ramón y Cajal," opens today at NYU's Grey Art Gallery @NYUGrey.
The @SloanFoundation-supported exhibition "The Beautiful Brain: The Drawings of Santiago Ramón y Cajal," opens today at NYU's Grey Art Gallery @NYUGrey
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We just started collecting data on the sex of authors this year, but for what we have, the news is good. About 35% of our submissions have a female senior author and those papers are accepted at the same rate as papers with male senior authors
Which journals would be curious enough to do this study? Has any of the high-profile journals already done this? I bet J Neurosci may have. MarinaPicciotto @MarinaP63?.
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Gordon Shepherd was one of the kindest and smartest scientists I have known. When I met him for the first time I was in aw, since we had used his book in my undergrad classes, but it was his warmth, quiet humor and erudition that stays with me.
It is with great sadness that we share that our friend and wonderful colleague, Gordon M Shepherd, MD, DPhil, professor emeritus @YaleNeuro, passed away on June 9, 2022. His leadership was infused with personal integrity, generosity, & great wisdom.
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Debuting TODAY! Our new JNeuroscience Peer Review Training Program for trainees. Take a look:
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Oxytocin neurons on the cover bringing the❤️in this week's issue of JNeurosci. Inside, read about mechanisms of synaptotagmin effects on synaptic vesicle release, nostalgia-induced analgesia in humans (!), habituation override in flies, and so much more
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What will 2018 bring? I hope it brings health and moments of joy to you and your family. I wish for a 2018 in which empirical evidence and rational inference are respected. I hope it is a year of discovery and progress.
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Same story - I took my daughter to meetings from the time she was born until she was a teenager. It was critical to staying in science as a two-scientist couple. Senior scientists - stay focused on the right metrics of success, not on some outmoded idea of appearing serious.
Young scientist parents who hear this sort of rubbish: ignore the morons and carry on. Take your kids to all the meetings and scientific events you want. I and the father of my children did. Our careers and the children turned out OK 😊.
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I love all of @GDunnArt ‘s work, but to have my own nAChR-inspired piece hanging in my house is really special
The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor on the membranes of neurons, a combination of ink, dye, gold, and fingerpainting on glass. This was a fun one to honor the work of Dr. Marina Picciotto @MarinaP63. #receptor #ionchannel #neuroscience #neuro #sciart #molecule #fingerpainting
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This is a new hypothesis to test - why would increasing ACh signaling contribute to depressive and anxiety disorders in humans and stress-related behaviors in mice? We suggest that ACh could promote negative encoding bias.
SPECIAL REVIEW in @EJNeuroscience.The role of acetylcholine in negative encoding bias: Too much of a good thing? .By Yann S. Mineur & Marina R. Picciotto @MarinaP63 of @YaleMed.#learning #memory #attention .
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