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Laura Case PhD

@touchybrains.bsky.social

Associate Professor @ucsdhealthsci.bsky.social | Peer Mentoring Program Chair @UCSanDiegoWiHS | Neuroscientist, nature lover, mom | Opinions are my own Wellesley/ NCCIH/ UCSD caselaboratory.org

98 Followers  |  77 Following  |  19 Posts  |  Joined: 21.11.2023  |  2.1668

Latest posts by touchybrains.bsky.social on Bluesky

Drawing of three scientists - from the NIH, EPA and NASA - standing together

Drawing of three scientists - from the NIH, EPA and NASA - standing together

This morning, NASA released the #VoyagerDeclaration. This afternoon, NIH #BethesdaDeclaration signers met w/ Jay Bhattacharya. Earlier, EPA staff were terminated for their act of resistance.

I made this in solidarity. @altnih4science.bsky.social @altnasa.bsky.social @alt-epa-workers.bsky.social

22.07.2025 01:52 β€” πŸ‘ 338    πŸ” 88    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 7

You get about 100 million breaths. So does every other animal big or small. Don't waste them. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

22.07.2025 02:29 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Can you spare a minute to help this campaign? Healthcare Professionals Demand Unimpeded Humanitarian Aid and Medical Access in Gaza

Friends, rates of severe malnutrition and dehydrationβ€”particularly among childrenβ€”have reached catastrophic levels in that politically complex place I will not name for the algorithm. Please urgently sign and share this petition for humanitarian aid from my colleague: chng.it/Mbqh4gXFpC

21.07.2025 21:58 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

(5/5)

🚨 It’s time to flood the zone.

NIH scientists just took a huge risk speaking out. Now it’s our turn.

πŸ“œ Read the Bethesda Declaration
✍️ Sign the Public Letter of Support
πŸ‘―β€β™€οΈFollow NIHers doing the work: @nihvigils.bsky.social

Read and sign here πŸ‘‰ www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...

09.06.2025 12:06 β€” πŸ‘ 456    πŸ” 254    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 35

www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...

09.06.2025 14:24 β€” πŸ‘ 33    πŸ” 21    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 8
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Our new paper is out. We point out that large brained (and often smart) mammals and birds have evolved very different distribution of neurons numbers in the brain.
This means that similar cognitive abilities have evolved in very different brains.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

17.04.2025 21:22 β€” πŸ‘ 209    πŸ” 69    πŸ’¬ 15    πŸ“Œ 6

Not to show bias, but this symposium from
@sirileknes.bsky.social featuring one of my all-time favourite people, India Morrison, is going to be epic!!!

17.04.2025 11:44 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Nobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger | CNN Dr. Ardem Patapoutian says he watches β€œwith deep sadness as the United States’ remarkable scientific enterprise, which took generations of hard work and national investment to build, faces a concerted...

Published an op-ed for @cnn.com: β€œNobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger.”
A personal reflection on what’s at stake as science funding gets slashed. I’d be grateful if you could amplify both in and beyond the science world.
www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...

09.04.2025 11:30 β€” πŸ‘ 903    πŸ” 494    πŸ’¬ 15    πŸ“Œ 25

what a massive effort. an incredible resource for anyone studying the claustrum.

08.04.2025 20:02 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

We have slots for 2-3 postbacs! Get in touch if you’re interested in joining the Affective Neuroscience and Pain lab & contributing to our studies of pain, emotion, and social processing in the 🧠

07.04.2025 19:14 β€” πŸ‘ 44    πŸ” 38    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

This is a good explainer! But I want to be even more blunt:

You can't cure cancer in the dark.

Federal (F&A) funding is what pays to keep the lights on so that doctors and scientists can do this work.

18.03.2025 23:07 β€” πŸ‘ 49    πŸ” 17    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

As a Jewish faculty member at one of these institutions, I am saying right now, in the clearest tones possible: not in my name. This violent exploitation of Jews as an alibi for achieving Fascist ends is itself textbook antisemitism.

10.03.2025 20:58 β€” πŸ‘ 3657    πŸ” 1091    πŸ’¬ 41    πŸ“Œ 29
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Rallying for Science @ucsdhealthsci.bsky.social !

08.03.2025 00:15 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Brain-wide presynaptic networks of functionally distinct cortical neurons - Nature Behavioural-state-dependent pyramidal neurons have a distinct pattern of long-range glutamatergic inputs, with a larger proportion of thalamic versus motor cortex inputs compared with non-behavio...

Groundbreaking work by Dr. Soohyun Lee from the National Institute of Mental Health at NIH
The brilliant young scientist faces termination.
Science like this leads to discoveries that can revolutionize how we understand the brain.
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#neuroscience #neuroskyence

06.03.2025 22:03 β€” πŸ‘ 146    πŸ” 43    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1
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β€˜Silence is complicity’ β€” universities must fight the anti-DEI crackdown Higher-education establishments must not be bullied into abandoning their mission of diversity, equity and inclusion.

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

05.03.2025 22:12 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Webinar: Experimental pain versus clinical pain in mechanistic research To date, most mechanistic research studies on the hypoalgesic effects of music have used experimentally induced pain. Even though the use of experimentally induced pain presents important methodologic...

March 26, free to register

Webinar: Experimental pain versus clinical pain in mechanistic research

music4pain.org/event/webina...

03.03.2025 20:38 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

so cool and highly relevant for social touch research!

27.02.2025 19:41 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Inside the Collapse at the NIH Administration officials pressured the NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.

This new Atlantic piece on the timeline of the NIH shutdown reads like the script to a new Soderbergh film. It is so, so dark and perfectly captures the evil and intentional chaos behind everything we've experienced over the last month www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

27.02.2025 19:12 β€” πŸ‘ 69    πŸ” 34    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Luke Farritor has been given access, by NIH civil service leadership, to the NIH business systems.

That will allow him to do this to NIH grants, and to purchasing for research and clinical trials. 🚨 πŸ§ͺ

26.02.2025 13:01 β€” πŸ‘ 86    πŸ” 37    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1
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Soft touch quells loneliness in mice Touch modulates one of two dueling types of hypothalamic neurons that, thermostat-like, balance an animal’s drive for social interaction.

Two dueling sets of hypothalamic neuronsβ€”one that responds to isolation and one to reunionβ€”help maintain a mouse's social homeostasis, a new study reveals.

By @avaskham.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/social-behav...

26.02.2025 16:11 β€” πŸ‘ 46    πŸ” 17    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 3

kinda! most of the buildings are quite maze-like, they live in cubicle caves among the folds of walls. (former intramural)

26.02.2025 01:07 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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On March 7, STAND UP FOR SCIENCE! Rally and protest. Washington DC and nationwide. Get more info here: standupforscience2025.org
Please forward to spread the word. #standupforscience2025 #sciencenotsilence #scienceforall #WomenInSTEM @standupforscience.bsky.social

24.02.2025 20:19 β€” πŸ‘ 76    πŸ” 39    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Studies show that funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) contributed to 354 of 356 drugs (99.4%) approved by the FDA from 2010 to 2019. Recklessly slashing NIH funding will mean that patients will be waiting much longer for life-saving treatments.

24.02.2025 19:21 β€” πŸ‘ 1630    πŸ” 607    πŸ’¬ 35    πŸ“Œ 25

NIDA has announced it, but all the NIH summer internship programs are likely cancelled.

Sorry college students interested in STEM jobs, sorry high school students looking at science πŸ§ͺ careers. Trump and Musk are cancelling your futures.

24.02.2025 23:54 β€” πŸ‘ 481    πŸ” 239    πŸ’¬ 13    πŸ“Œ 28
DEI Position

DEI Position

In a new editorial from Editor-in-Chief of PAIN @karenddavis.bsky.social reaffirms the journal’s commitment to considering #diversity, #DEI, and #GenderIdentity in pain research and management. bit.ly/3D5WgJOΒ 

21.02.2025 21:01 β€” πŸ‘ 34    πŸ” 16    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image 21.02.2025 15:51 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

EIS is the best of the best. It's an incredibly competitive fellowship that recruits outstanding medical researchers. They are often the first ones on the scene trying to make sense of mystery outbreaks and public health emergencies. This is not who we want to be firing right now

14.02.2025 21:17 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

😳🀯. Dr. Laurer was the coauthor of the memo yesterday acknowledging that the NIH funding freeze was illegal and directing staff to resume issuing grants.

13.02.2025 15:42 β€” πŸ‘ 92    πŸ” 34    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1

interesting account to check out!

14.02.2025 20:17 β€” πŸ‘ 18    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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