Steve Ramirez

Would You Erase a Painful Memory, if You Could? | KQED Airdate: Monday, December 8 at 10 AM In groundbreaking experiments with mice, Boston University neuroscientist Steve Ramirez has succeeded in turning memories on and off, even implanting new ones. He…

🎙️ON AIR:

We're talking to @okaysteve.bsky.social about his groundbreaking work with mice — turning memories on and off, even implanting new ones — and the ethical questions it raises.

❓What are your questions about the science of memory manipulation?

📻 Listen:

(1/6) We have a new paper out in #eNeuro!

How does the brain’s reward processing change across social contexts? We mapped brain activity (cFos) & found that social context reshapes how reward circuits are coordinated🐭🏆

Read more: www.eneuro.org/content/12/1...

Introducing co-vice chair @gisellavetere.bsky.social!

Gisella is a team leader at @espciparispsl.bsky.social and is most excited about the immersive exchange and new ideas #OptoGRC2026 will inspire.

Fun fact: when she’s not studying neurons, you can find her spinning on a pole 💃💪

How to Change a Memory: One Neuroscientist’s Quest to Alter the Past by Steve Ramirez

@okaysteve.bsky.social's How to Change a Memory is out now!

In this book, Ramirez draws on his own memories to reveal how memory can be turned on & off like a switch, edited, & even constructed from nothing.

Explore a free sample: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

#Neuroscience #Memory

🚨 Reminder: Applications for #OptoGRC2026 are now OPEN!

Don’t miss your chance to join an incredible week of science, discovery, and connection with the brightest minds in optogenetics 💡🧠

Apply now for the best chance of acceptance: www.grc.org/optogenetic-...

Ventral tegmental area GABA neurons integrate positive and negative valence - Nature Communications The role of ventral tegmental area GABA neurons in behavior is unclear. Here, authors show that VTA GABA but not dopamine neurons integrate positive and negative valence to encode motivational conflic...

So excited to see our latest paper out today in @natcomms.nature.com! Studies led by the amazing @margestelzner.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41.... VTA GABA neurons have a unique role in economic decision making - they integrate reward seeking motivation and the current cost of seeking

How Memories Might Be Used to Help Heal the Brain In a new book, Steve Ramirez explores the potential of memory manipulation to ease depression and other afflictions.

"I hope that the wearing-my-humanity-on-my-sleeves part at least continues to normalize the process of 'You’re going to have great days, and you’re going to have atrocious days in life.'"

It does, @okaysteve.bsky.social. It really does.

(via @undark.org)

undark.org/2025/10/29/i...

It's time to meet your #OptoGRC2026 chairs!

Co-vice chair @tinakim-neuro.bsky.social is an assistant professor at @princeton.edu who spent the summer building a van for weekend adventures 🚐✨

She's most looking forward to meeting new people & exploring areas outside of her usual wheelhouse!

Thank you, @thetransmitter.bsky.social, for including me on the list of Rising Stars in Neuroscience along with so many other spectacular neuroscientists! It is an honor to receive this recognition!

Two Neuroscientists Envision A ‘Repair Shop’ For The Brain In “How to Change a Memory,” neuroscientist Steve Ramirez embarks on a project to find and reactivate memories in the brains of mice.

"The idea of activating a memory? Very 'Total Recall' with a bit of 'Inception' thrown in. We felt like kids again, and our playground was the science lab." Read a full excerpt from "How to Change a Memory: One Neuroscientist's Quest to Alter the Past." 📚

thank you so much gisella -- this was truly an honor to read and i appreciate your kind words and trailblazing science so much 🙌🏽!!

Meditations on memory A neuroscientist presents an intimate portrait of engram research

Meditations on memory | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
It was an honour to review @okaysteve.bsky.social ’s How to Change a Memory for Science. The book speaks for itself, bold, inspiring, and full of soul. I’m just proud to highlight the incredible work behind it. So proud of you, Steve

At the pre #SfN @storiesofwin.bsky.social Symposium. Inspiring, entertaining, motivating, and encouraging to hear all these honest stories from these women scientists who truly are making an impact on their environment and science in general.

Final version published here in @cellpress.bsky.social: Structure

www.cell.com/structure/fu...

Check out this book from a neuroscientist studying the creation (and manipulation) of memory, a truly sci-fi level of science! I can only imagine this may be of interest to the type of folks who follow me:

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Memories Change. But Can We Change Them On Purpose? Neuroscientists are manipulating memories in mice in an effort to develop treatments for brain disorders.

In today's podcast, Dr. Steve Ramirez - Boston U (@okaysteve.bsky.social) says memory manipulation in mice is #Inception & #Severance type manipulations. What??? He also shares that memory & imagination light up the same #brain regions.

Catch it all at www.sciencefriday.com/segments/how...

check out the @okaysteve.bsky.social lab’s posters (for both neuron and glia enthusiasts) at #SfN2025 on Saturday PM! especially say hello to @siriacoello.bsky.social who is applying to grad school this cycle✨

Not to brag, but Steve gives a shout out to my 3-year-old son in the intro of this book.

(I lied, this is a brag)

(Also, go buy this book, it is great)

🚨🚨🚨NEW PAPER ALERT🚨🚨🚨

We present StateSpaceDynamics.jl, an open-source Julia package for fitting probabilistic state-space models (SSMs)—including non-conjugate models like Poisson LDS and switching variants (SLDS). Python has had existing packages that have given this functionality...

Sosa Lab - Postdoctoral Researchers We are seeking postdocs to start in 2026!

The Sosa Lab is going to #SfN25 and actively recruiting ✨postdocs✨ with systems neuroscience experience! We study both fundamental memory processes and how memory changes during pregnancy and postpartum.

If you are interested in meeting at SfN, please email me! www.sosaneurolab.com/join/postdoc...

‘How to Change a Memory: One Neuroscientist’s Quest to Alter the Past,’ an excerpt Part scientific exploration, part memoir, Steve Ramirez’s new book delves into the study of memory manipulation and his personal journey of discovery, friendship and grief.

Enjoy a sneak peek of @okaysteve.bsky.social's How to Change a Memory on @thetransmitter.bsky.social:

@okaysteve.bsky.social sat down with @franciscorr25.bsky.social to discuss the inspiration behind the book, why he decided to write it partly as a memoir, and what he wants readers to take away from reading it.

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/memory/how-t...

Audiobook cover of How to Change a Memory: One Neuroscientist’s Quest to Alter the Past by Steve Ramirez, read by the author

In How to Change a Memory, neuroscientist @okaysteve.bsky.social shares his disarmingly personal account of the new science of memory manipulation.⁠
⁠
🎧️📔 The #audiobook, read by the author himself, is out now!

Add it to your #audio library: press.princeton.edu/books/audio/...

Molecular mechanisms mediating engram ensemble retrievability state in mice Engrams, ensembles of neurons that store memories, exist along a continuum of retrievability. Normally, sensory cues can reactivate a latent engram to…

Excited to share the latest from the lab on the molecular mechanisms of silencing and un-silencing a hippocampal engram ensemble. Was fun using a variant of the EPSILON technique developed by Adam Cohen's lab.
(1/2)

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

ahhh so awesome!! thank you x1000 for the support and i hope you enjoy the story 🙂. id love to hear your thoughts on it after too!!

How to Change a Memory by @okaysteve.bsky.social is out now!

Discover a disarmingly personal account of the new science of memory manipulation by one of today’s leading pioneers in the field.

Learn more and order yours: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

#Neuroscience #Memory

How to Change a Memory: One Neuroscientist’s Quest to Alter the Past Buy How to Change a Memory: One Neuroscientist’s Quest to Alter the Past on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

Book launch day is here 🚀

How to Change a Memory, in physical and audio form: www.amazon.com/How-Change-M...

and here's a preview of one of the book's central themes: memories change and, as a result, we change too🧠.

www.statnews.com/2025/11/04/a...

How to Change a Memory: One Neuroscientist's Quest to Alter the Past by Steve Ramirez

Steve Ramirez

Tomorrow (Nov 3) at 6:30pm EST, join @harvardbookstore.bsky.social, the Harvard University Division of Science, and @harvardlibrary.bsky.social in welcoming award-winning neuroscientist @okaysteve.bsky.social for a discussion and signing of his new book, How to Change a Memory

RSVP: buff.ly/PEwnVu8

unreal! thank you SO much for the support!! i hope the book connects with you in a meaningful way and i cant wait to hear your thoughts on it 🙂

How Memories Might Be Used to Help Heal the Brain In a new book, Steve Ramirez explores the potential of memory manipulation to ease depression and other afflictions.

@okaysteve.bsky.social chatted with @undark.org about how memories can heal the brain and his new book, How to Change a Memory (publishing 11/4). Check out the interview: