Sophia Levis, MD, PhD

Opioid drug seeking after early-life adversity: a role for delta opioid receptors Opioid use disorder (OUD) is associated with a history of early-life adversity (ELA), an association that is particularly strong in women. In a rodent…

Re-sharing over here the final chapter of my PhD now online as part of a special issue of Addiction Neuroscience on stress and addiction! We explore the link between adversity, addiction, and the role of delta opioid receptors in mediating that link:

Opioid drug seeking after early-life adversity: a role for delta opioid receptors Opioid use disorder (OUD) is associated with a history of early-life adversity (ELA), an association that is particularly strong in women. In a rodent…

Re-sharing over here the final chapter of my PhD now online as part of a special issue of Addiction Neuroscience on stress and addiction! We explore the link between adversity, addiction, and the role of delta opioid receptors in mediating that link:

Our study on ketamine's effects on neural self-other-distinction is finally out! 🥳

This is the first really big project from my lab, so I am extra happy about this one 🤩.

#neuroskyence
#PsychSciSky
#AcademicSky
#philsci

Denver gave people experiencing homelessness $1,000 a month. A year later, nearly half of participants had housing. Participants in Denver's basic income program received up to $1,000 a month. They became more housing secure and landed full-time jobs.

Denver gave people experiencing homelessness $1,000 a month.

Results showed that close to half of the participants secured housing, and nearly $600K saved in public service costs due to fewer ER visits & jail stays. They also saw improved mental health.

The five stages of academic writing:

1. Procrastination
2. Panic
3. Caffeine overdose
4. Submitting a barely coherent mess
5. Swearing to do it differently next time
#academicsky

Distinct µ-opioid ensembles trigger positive and negative fentanyl reinforcement - Nature Experiments using fentanyl treatment of mice show that µ-opioid receptors mediate positive reinforcement in the ventral tegmental area and negative reinforcement in central amygdala, thereby identifyi...

Some cool work showing negative valence of MOR-expressing neurons in the CeA during fentanyl withdrawal.


www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Dopamine, explained Dopamine detoxing, hacking, and fasting: Is any of it real?

Nice article pushing back on pop culture versions of dopamine

Featuring an all star dopamine scientist cast ⭐ - happy to see all these folks contributing!

www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Figure from our paper about nonbinary interpretations of sex differences in cognition, describing two suggestions. First, consider assessing strategies instead of performance, and second, consider whether sex impacts are variable and mosaic

Very happy to announce our paper!

"Sex mechanisms as nonbinary influences on cognitive diversity"

A pleasure to contribute to this special issue of Hormones and Behavior about how to be less binary and more inclusive in behavioral and cognitive neuroscience

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

After 8 long years, finally get to call myself a double doc! So grateful to my mentors, family, and my MSTP cohort, who are some of the most amazing and inspiring physician-scientists I know! 🧪🩺🧠

Very honored to have received the Meyskens Family research award and the department of Psychiatry outstanding graduating student award! Such an honor to be recognized among so many of my accomplished peers, and extra proud to have my family with me tonight to help celebrate! #medsky

Postdoctoral Scholar University of California, Los Angeles is hiring. Apply now!

I’m looking for more post-docs to join our team at UCLA ☀️ Please share with your 🧠 networks recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF09330

A two panel meme; on the left is an ornate horse capping the end of a wooden railing. The right is a toy horse taped to a pole at the bottom of stairs

What I think I wrote vs what I realize I wrote when I’m editing

Setting my watch to my dog’s position on the couch

A white dog laying in a sunny spot on the couch. She’s using an orange stuffed squid as a pillow

It’s hard work following the sunny spot around the house all day

Love this!! Do you have a link?

🧠 hello #neuroskyence! happy to share my early career commentary in neuropsychopharmacology, highlighting the importance of understanding sex hormones for understanding the brain: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The first draft is for telling yourself the story, revisions are for telling your readers.

A white pittie on a walk, looking over her shoulder at the camera and licking her nose

Hi from one Ruby to another!

Causation in neuroscience: keeping mechanism meaningful - Nature Reviews Neuroscience ‘Mechanism’ is a frequently used causal concept in neuroscience but can have different meanings that are often not specified. In this Review, Ross and Bassett explore these different meanings and ...

Excited to share a new paper w Dani Bassett on "Causation in neuroscience: keeping mechanism meaningful" in Nature Reviews Neuroscience

We explore different meanings of mechanism in the field, the challenges this presents & how to move forward. 🧠

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Thanks Dr. Bangasser! It’s been fun getting to cross paths with you on the conference circuit this past year! Hope your 2024 is off to a great start ☺️

Had my final residency interview today and am just so excited to be one small step closer to becoming a psychiatrist physician-scientist! Now back to the wards... #medsky #womeninstem #neuroskyence #addictionsci

New year, new preprint! Cued invigoration of reward seeking promotes sustained population coding in the BLA, which is disrupted by OFC inactivation. Consistent with the notion that BLA represents motivational states.

Screenshot of the first page of the article "The risk of opioid use disorder among women undergoing obstetric-related procedures: Results from the Cerner Real-World Database" published in DADR.

Our latest pub delves into the complex link between obstetric procedures OUD in women, highlighting how some procedures (e.g., ectopic pregnancy, cesarean) have a higher risk for OUD than others (e.g., vaginal delivery). bit.ly/OUDandObstet...

#Benzodiazepines: It is complicated.
#MedSky 🧪

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Proud of myself for getting two manuscripts submitted just under the 2023 wire! Stay tuned for some cool 🧪🩺🧠 stuff coming out in 2024! #medsky #neuroskyence #addictionsci

Flyer is on a yellow grid background. Text at the top aligned in the middle says, SURF Paner. Under this text says, Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Info Session. On the bottom left is a picture of participants at a Black In Neuro professional development event. Text over the picture says “Join Us” in a yellow heptadecagon shape. Icons of a calendar, clock, and location symbol are vertically aligned in the middle. To the right is a blue bubble that says, January 12 2024. Under this is a blue bubble that says, 1:00-2:15 PM ET. Lastly is a blue bubble under that says, Zoom link. At the bottom of the flyer is a black arrow pointing to www.blackinneuro.com

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) are invaluable opportunities for undergraduates to gain research experience. Join Black In Neuro on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024 at 1 PM ET for an information session with universities on the SURF application process. Register now! t.co/MuYLHgnG85 🟦🧠 🧪

A white dog has her head buried in a red gift bag with Merry Christmas written on it

Merry Christmas ya filthy animals