Marie K Holt

This closes Tuesday 20th January 2026 at 11:55pm (UK Time).

Postdoc job alert!

Come work with me on my MRC-funded fellowship on stress and appetite 🧠🌭 at @warwicklifesci.bsky.social

5 years of behaviour, circuit manipulations, neuroanatomy, electrophysiology and transcriptomics👨‍🔬🤓

Oh and Warwick is beautiful😍

Info here: tinyurl.com/yzmf24r3
Please share.

Such a creative approach!

PIEZO channels link mechanical forces to uterine contractions in parturition Mechanical forces are extensively involved in pregnancy and parturition, but their precise roles and mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we identify mechanically activated ion channels PIEZO1 a...

New preprint alert! The uterus expands ~500-fold in pregnancy, yet we know little about how pressures are sensed. Led by @yunxiao-dr.bsky.social, we show PIEZOs are required for contractions and birth in mice, with dual roles of PIEZO1 in muscle and PIEZO2 in neurons
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The figure depicts the study rationale and procedures. We anticipated differences in reward sensitivity across groups varying in symptoms of binge eating, specifically in the variability.

Patients with binge eating disorder (BED) have a higher variability in food wanting ratings during the effort allocation task in the behavioral session.

Participants with a higher body mass index (BMI) show elevated variability of anticipatory cue responses in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc).

When we encounter the same reward repeatedly, we show variable responses; is this just noise?
In our new preprint, we replicate the association of BMI and disinhibited eating with variability of NAcc signals to reward. #neuroskyence 🩺
W/ @akuehnel.bsky.social
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

2 Lecturer (Assistant Prof) positions available @yorkpsychology.bsky.social! Come join our department!

#neuroskyence #cognition #psychscisky #neurojobs

jobs.york.ac.uk/vacancy/lect...

Interoceptive Ability is Unrelated to Mental Health Symptoms: Evidence From a Large Scale Multi-Domain Psychophysical Investigation Interoception-the sensing and perception of the internal viscera-is widely cast as a transdiagnostic mechanism linking brain-body interaction to mental illness. Prevailing models propose that altered ...

Are interoception and mental health linked? Many assume so, with interoception even described as a psychiatric “p-factor.” But in our latest preprint, we were surprised to find little evidence for such a connection. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵 Thread with our reflections on the matter 👇

the tldr of my thread is that, interoceptive sensing at rest has no relationship to mental health symptoms, and we think this is likely because we need to measure interoception during and after arousal, close in time to symptoms, with ecological measures.

Hey, it's out!
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce... Aligning Big Brains and Atlases, ABBA in short, is published in Cell Reports @cp-cellreports.bsky.social . @biancasilvalab.bsky.social's lab added an analysis pipeline on top of it (BraiAn) and did all the relevant biological work. What is it ? Short thread:

Modern theories of emotion (especially “interoceptive inference”) often cite William James as a key inspiration. But what did James actually say about emotion, and is it supported by the data? Here’s a brief look at the core arguments and classic evidence. 🧵

Gut microbiome is associated with insula structure in neonates The infant brain and gut microbiome both develop rapidly in early infancy. Growing evidence indicates that the gut microbiome plays a critical role in…

Gut microbiome is associated with insula structure in neonates www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

First go at expansion microscopy (bar the one time we accidentally washed the tissue down the sink...) and look at that neuron!😍

How nerve cells transfer their powerhouse mitochondria to fuel cancer cells @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Still a week to go to apply for our open position in Mammalian Neuroscience at University of Warwick!

We created a photometry python package for unbiased standardised post-hoc analysis using bootstrapping confidence intervals

No more AUC or time bins analysis! Ever

Follow our simple step by step instructions.

@foldi.bsky.social @philjrdb.bsky.social

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Excited about our new preprint: 1st successful genome-wide study of >61,000 panic attack and 29,000 panic disorder cases. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... We find 17 associations & evidence that peripheral neurons in eye, lungs and heart are involved in panic & other psychiatric disorders 1/n

Sex‐Specific Adaptations to VTA Circuits Following Subchronic Stress Subchronic variable stress, a paradigm shown to have divergent behavioral effects in males and females, induces shared and distinct physiological adaptations in the VTA. While both males and females ...

New work from my lab looking at how dopamine neurons are affected by stress and males and females! This paper comes to you through three rounds of major building construction, a pandemic, six months that we could not get TTX, some animal facility shenanigans and now is here on your internet!

Assistant or Associate Professor in Mammalian Neuroscience (110565-0625) at University of Warwick Start your UK & international job search for academic jobs, research jobs, science jobs and managerial jobs in leading universities and top...

Assistant Prof/Associate Prof position in Mammalian Neuroscience! 👩‍🔬👨‍🔬

My department is hiring! Closing on June 30th.

Please repost widely!

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNK944/a...

Here in the School of Biological & Behavioural Sciences at QMUL we are seeking to appoint a Teaching Fellow in #Bioinformatics. Please spread the word and encourage applications from suitable candidates. Deadline for applications is June 4th.
qmul-jobs.tal.net/vx/appcentre...

The evolving neurobiology of early-life stress This review explores the effects of early-life stress on brain development and cognitive function, highlighting gaps in understanding perceived stress, vulnerable developmental stages, underlying mole...

Excellent review by @talliezee.bsky.social and Matthew T. Birnie on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the consequences of early life adversity. Highly recommended! www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

A screenshot of the termination notice showing "Outstanding Investigator Grants"

A screenshot of the termination notice with "This award is terminated effective the date of this award, due to unsafe antisemitic actions that suggest the institution lacks concern for the safety and wellbeing of Jewish students." highlighted

Yesterday, the NIH R35 “Outstanding Investigator” grant to fund scientists in my lab studying antibiotic resistance was terminated for reasons not related to the content of the science, or any actions taken by me or members of my lab

Is the UK paying the price for world’s most expensive visas? | The Observer Competing political and economic goals on immigration are resulting in the loss of valuable skills and talent in the UK

“The visa fees are so exceedingly high that it makes coming here very difficult for some people. We are fishing for the best scientists in the world. They want to come and work here because we are such an effective country at science, but if we have these high costs, they can and will go elsewhere.”

Microglial brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) supports the behavioral and synaptogenic effects of ketamine Microglia have been implicated in the pathogenesis for several psychiatric disorders, yet comparatively little is known about their role in treatments for these conditions. Prior work showed that the ...

Microglia are often framed as driving maladaptive behavior in stress and depression, but what if they're important for treatment as well?

In the final project from my graduate studies, we explored whether microglial BDNF supports the effects of low-dose ketamine.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Professor, Senior Lecturer/Lecturer and Lecturer posts - Glasgow City (GB) job with University of Glasgow | 12838283 University of Glasgow College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences  School of Psychology & Neuroscience Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience/Psy...

Brain/behaviour people - come to beautiful Scotland - we are recruiting in psychology and neuroscience across all grades! Closes May 12. Details below, and please re-post 🙏

www.nature.com/naturecareer...

More about us here: www.gla.ac.uk/schools/psyc...

#neuroskyence #neurojobs

Exclusive: NIH to end billions of dollars in foreign research grants Move by US biomedical agency jeopardizes thousands of projects on infectious diseases, cancer and more.

These are not good news for us foreigners who are (or plan to be) co-PI an NIH grants @altnih4science.bsky.social. Anybody who knows whether they plan to terminate ongoing R01 grants?

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

GIPR agonism and antagonism decrease body weight and food intake via different mechanisms in male mice - Nature Metabolism This study, together with a companion manuscript, show that, in mice, weight loss as a result of GIP receptor antagonism requires, and potentiates, functional GLP-1 receptor signalling in the brain, e...

www.nature.com/articles/s42...

GIP is such a strange hormone. I'm glad these two companion papers can shed some light on the mystery...

GIPR-Ab/GLP-1 peptide–antibody conjugate requires brain GIPR and GLP-1R for additive weight loss in obese mice - Nature Metabolism This study, together with a companion manuscript, shows that in mice, weight loss as a result of GIP receptor antagonism requires and potentiates functional GLP-1 receptor signalling in the brain, exp...

www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Anyone else find GIP super confusing - but in an exciting way?

Ozempic Nation | British Library Ozempic and other similar drugs have dominated the headlines in the last year. Opinions on both sides are strong – on one hand claiming their power as a mi

Join us at British Library on-line or in person Fri 9th May 7pm to hear me @zoesqwilliams.bsky.social @kimberleywilson.bsky.social @christinaavogel.bsky.social discuss GLP-1 based therapies for obesity 🥗🍰. Tickets via:
events.bl.uk/events/ozemp... @imperialbrains.bsky.social @imperialmed.bsky.social

Very very cool and lovely anatomical work!

I wonder if this is at all modulated by GLP1? GLP1 neurons are activated by IL6 and sit in the nearby NTS.

Excited to give this a thorough read!

Your yearly reminder to acknowledge the core facilities you use and their staff scientists in your papers. These scientists are a crucial part of the scientific ecosystem and to continue to exist they need tangible credit for their work. Plus their associated expertise adds credibility to your work.