Neuroendocrinology and Behavior lab at UCLA

Check out Lauren Saenz’s poster on somatostatin and dominance at #sfn #sfn2025 today (Wednesday, 11/19). 8am-12pm, Poster Y4, “Investigating the role of somatostatin in regulating social dominance in a cichlid”. Spoiler alert: she used crispr to make a new mutant! @sbn-bsky.bsky.social @sfn.org

Hi Molly! Yes we are, if interested they can email me.

We are looking for a new postdoc to join our team! Details below. Please reach out if interested. share widely—Thanks!

UCLA's Jewish community unites against Trump's $1-billion demand: 'misguided and punitive' UCLA's Jewish faculty united around a letter conveying anger over a potential $1-billion settlement between the university and the Trump administration over alleged campus antisemitism.

New LA Times story about Jewish Faculty at UCLA standing up

www.latimes.com/california/s...

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UCLA (@ucla) on Threads Bruin legend @kareemabduljabbar_33 speaks from the heart about UCLA’s impact on his life, career, and health. His story illustrates how UCLA ResearchPowersProgress. Share your UCLA research impact st...

Here’s @kareemabduljabaar.bsky.social talking about the importance of UCLA research to human health. Groundbreaking research at UCLA leads to new discoveries and saves lives. Go Bruins! #researchpowersprogress
www.threads.com/@ucla/post/D...

We're losing scientific progress in real-time. Call your house rep and senators, and spread the word that real people are losing their jobs and having their futures upended because of these suspended funds. We can't afford not to fund science-there is too much at stake. 9/9

postdoc learning the new cutting-edge technology to apply it to today's and the future diseases; a junior Pl who has the next big idea in biomedicine: they are all wondering if they will have a job in the next couple of months. 8/9

please speak out against penalizing researchers who just want to do their job for the good of humanity, because that is precisely what's happening.
The country's future medical doctors who gain research experience in a UCLA lab as an undergraduate; the graduate student or 7/9

Many of my colleagues are not as lucky as I am. They perform cutting-edge world-changing research and were supported entirely by NIH and/or NSF funds that are now suspended. No matter what you think of the politics of this or your views on punishing universities 6/9

During these challenging times, that is one thing nobody will take away from us: our curiosity and spirit to work together in pursuit of knowledge to improve the human condition will NEVER cease. 5/9

I have funds to pay team members in the short term, but I don't know how long I can support them without NIH funds. What I do know is that we won't stop doing our research, and you can't stop our curiosity for discovery. 4/9

undergrads, grad students, techs, and postdocs researching the molecular regulation of gene expression in the brain and social behavior. What has been a passion of mine for years, NIH funds allowed me to share with future doctors and early career scientists. 3/9

have to wonder if their research can continue. I am sharing my thoughts now in hopes that you can spread the word on the human side of these suspensions. Obtaining an NIH grant is a difficult but rewarding achievement. With my funds, I was able to support 2/9

*Please read and share!* My NIH funds at UCLA were suspended last week.
It's hard to find the words to describe the impact of these grant suspensions. I have felt speechless and heartbroken that people in my lab, my friends, colleagues, researchers, trainees, and undergrads 1/9

Trump Wants U.C.L.A. to Pay $1 Billion to Restore Its Research Funding

So a $1 billion ransom now? It’s to scare us into submitting; To lose hope. Still not gonna stop us: Even in the face of this my lab remains committed to doing meaningful, impactful science, now more than ever. We won’t stop. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/u...

If hired, you will gain experience performing CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, behavioral analysis, and spatial transcriptiomics using our 10X Genomcis Xenium. Position is for 1-2 years. Official posting coming soon. Reach out or spread the word to others please. Thanks! 2/2

We’re looking to hire a research tech. Come join our team to sink your teeth into experiments on the hormonal and cellular basis of social behavior. Strong candidates should be proficient in immunohistochemostry/fluorescence, in situ hybridization/HCR/RNAscope, and microscopy. 1/2

Federal cuts to National Institutes of Health could threaten medical progress Former National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, who abruptly left his NIH research lab in February, fears aggressive downsizing could impact Americans’ health.

Here’s the segment on NIH from tonight’s 60 minutes www.cbsnews.com/video/nih-cu...

NIH | Sunday on 60 Minutes YouTube video by 60 Minutes

Please tell everyone you know that 60 minutes is covering the NIH tonight

youtu.be/noyS-L5gK7k?...

Thank you to the Allard lab on summarizing the importance of NIH and why this administration’s recent cuts hurt not only biomedical reseadch, but also jobs and the potential for developing cures for human diseases.

This is terrible, Troy. I’m so sorry. Your work is important for advancing knowledge in general and for neuroendocrinology!

Congrats, and it’s a relief some are still getting positive news on their NIH funding.

Check out the papers to learn more! In our ongoing work we continue to do experiments to figure out the hormonal regulation of social behavior in both sexes. We’re looking to recruit grad students and a postdoc for these projects, so email if interested! @sbn-bsky.bsky.social 5/5

Sexually dimorphic control of aggression by androgen signaling in a cichlid Innate social behaviors like aggression are modulated by sex steroid hormones such as androgens and estrogens. However, we know little about how the s…

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In this paper Lillian tested whether androgen receptor alpha, which is required for quivers in males, was required for quivers during female aggression. ARa wasn’t required for female quivers, or any form of aggression by females 4/5

Finally, male and female brains looked very different after this assay: males showed an elevation of neural activity in the VMH, an aggression node, while females showed inhibition of neural activity in social brain regions. 3/5

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We used a mirror assay to study aggression and the brain. Lillian found males and females do both sex-typical and the same behaviors. Females performed quivers during this assay, which is surprising because males do this during courtship but not aggression! 2/5

Lillian Jackson from our lab published two papers recently on sex differences in the molecular and neural basis of aggression in cichlids. Below are links to both papers with short summaries. 1/5

Add this to your #SICB2025 itinerary!

I am specifically interested adding 1-2 new graduate students to the team. Visit alwardlab.com for more details about some of our current research questions. reach out with questions if interested and/or to learn more about UCLA/LA! Please retweet! 3/3

Faculty in the IBP dept at UCLA such as Stephanie Correa, Ed van Veen, Barney Schlinger, Art Arnold, myself, and others across UCLA study a diverse array of topics in neuroendocrinology, providing students an opportunity to pursue graduate training within a rich neuroendocrinology hub. 2/3