J. Barker Lab

Sex Differences in Low-dose Ethanol Effects on Motivated Behavior and Limbic Corticostriatal Activity Background: In 2023, the World Health Organization declared that there is no safe amount of alcohol consumption. It is becoming increasingly clear that even at lower doses, ethanol exposure impacts bo...

New preprint from work led by @curranalfaro.bsky.social !

Tina looked at the impacts of chronic exposure to low-dose ethanol on brain and behavior and id'd altered cFos engagement in NAc circuits and sex specific effects on sensitivity to changes in reward value.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Federal funding is not worth Penn’s independence | Editorial Signing on to the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education offered by the Trump administration would end the school's ability to determine its own future.

OPINION: "Signing on to the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education offered by the Trump administration would end the school's ability to determine its own future." — The Inquirer Editorial Board

So you want to support living marginalized banned authors but your local banned books week displays and events are full of famous dead people?

Not to worry: your helpful non-binary bookseller is here to help!

A thread!

“Toilet paper is offered for free in public bathrooms. Tampons and pads should be too."

Phlow Philly is a citywide initiative addressing period poverty by installing free-vend dispensers in public spaces and distributing 4,500 period kits.

Learn more: https://ow.ly/rsBn50X4kmB

Also, this was part of a special issue on Alcohol Use and Pain Interactions, edited by @jeffbphd.bsky.social - bunch of great stuff here! www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...

Effects of ethanol on mechanical allodynia and dynamic weight bearing in male and female mice with spared nerve injury - PubMed These data indicate that while ethanol has antiallodynic and antinociceptive effects in male and female mice, the doses and time course of these effects are distinct. Studies investigating the relatio...

This paper describes outcomes in males based on our previous findings of sex differences in ethanol effects on allodynia, but we are in parallel working on a follow up data set in females...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36521835/

Final version of this work is now live! Mitch developed this model and found that a history of chronic neuropathic pain in the SNI model facilitates pain-induced reinstatement of ethanol CPP in male mice.

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

A flyer advertising Philly Science Action Social. Happy Hour for Philly's Science Community. Friday, Oct 3. 4:30-6PM National Mechanics. 22 S 3rd St #24, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Connect. Share. Build Community.

This Friday! 🍻🔬

Join us at National Mechanics for a science happy hour!
📅 Friday, Oct 3
⏰ 4:30–6:00 PM
🎉 10% off drinks
🤝 Connect with Philly’s science community

Then head to the FREE First Friday poster session at the Science History Institute!
🔗 tinyurl.com/3z8sh4ax

Nixon Lab is hoping to recruit a postdoctoral fellow interested in alcohol-microglia and/or alcohol-neural stem cell interactions in recovery from alcohol-induced brain and behavioral damage/dysfunction. Open fellowships on our NIAAA-funded T32! Please spread the word!

(you can see what they're up to here, if you're into that - www.jbarkerlab.com/lab-members )

Group of 10 smiling scientists posing for a photo. They have elected to all wear pink and black, though they deny that they were channeling the Barbenheimer energy of 2023.

Working on an acknowledgements slide for a talk, and just thought I'd brag on how adorbs my lab is!

My entire feed rn is

Senator: Do you think heart failure causes death

RFK: Senator, medicine doesn't work, we all need to be drinking raccoon blood

Establishing a Fixed Time Period of Admission and an Extension of Stay Procedure for Nonimmigrant Academic Students, Exchange Visitors, and Representatives of Foreign Information Media Unlike most nonimmigrant classifications, which are admitted for a fixed time period, aliens in the F (academic student), J (exchange visitor), and most I (representatives of foreign information media...

Very few PhD students finish within 4 years. But international students will need to do that if US proposed visa rules change go through.

Sound reasonable to you?

Fed register is accepting comments for next month. Details at the link & comment button

www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

After conferring with DOJ, we'd like to provide the following guidance on the implications of last week's Supreme Court's decision. First, the Challenged Directives identified in the Rite to adamante o tune romain verated and cannot be applied to the identified plaintiffs in the two cases going forward. Second, for any terminated grant that has nc already been reinstated, NIH may stop all work toward reinstating those few grants, if any. Third, for those grants reinstated by NIH in response to the June judgments, we would strongly recommend against re-terminating such grants, because it will likely be viewed as a reapplication of the now-vacated Challenged Directives. We would also refer you to the Acting General Counsel's attached 6/25/25 opinion on the legal risks in terminating awards for nonalignment with priorities at this time. The Supreme Court's decision was an interim order while the cases proceed with the appeals of the phase 1 judgements before the First Circuit Court of Appeals. We will keep you posted on those proceedings. In the interim, please let us know if you have any questions.

BREAKING: per email sent to agency staff NIH will _NOT_ reterminate the ~900 grants which were reinstated.

"[W]e would strongly recommend against re-terminating such grants, because it will likely be viewed as a reapplication of the now-vacated Challenged Directives."

Just a reminder, the NOSIs for Research Continuity and Retention Supplements (childbirth, healthcare issues), and Re-Entry, Re-integration & Re-training Supplements, are ending Sept 9th. If you were thinking about one of them, apply soon. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

what a pr disaster for the powerhouse of the cell

Vox has a very good article explaining the mess that just happened at the Supreme Court. In the end, they are ensuring that no matter what happens to the canceled grants, there’s no chance of resolving fast enough to matter for the work or PIs. Struck a death blow www.vox.com/scotus/45886...

In March, the Trump administration announced a massive purge of workers at the nation's health agencies. We asked them how many workers were laid off, pushed out or left, and the admin refused to give us numbers. So we conducted our own analysis, a thread...

NEW: In March, the Trump administration announced a massive purge of workers at the nation's health agencies.

We asked them how many workers were laid off, pushed out or left.

They refused to give us numbers.

So we conducted our own analysis... 🧵

projects.propublica.org/federal-heal...

Rapid Response: Reinvesting in Racial and Indigenous Health Equity Research The purpose of this call for proposals is to meet the current moment by supporting timely, actionable health equity research that has been interrupted by shifts in federal funding.

ATTN: Robert Wood Johnson has money to support “canceled” research on racial-indigenous health equity

www.rwjf.org/en/grants/ac...

So many of my fellow scientists are deeply anti-intellectual at heart.

Hi, are you an academic biology lab in the Boston area? I am a lab manager at a local biotech and I will be getting rid of a lot consumables in the near future (as will many of my colleagues, unfortunately). If you would be interested in free consumables, please reach out to me!

Or

The application is for a diversity pipeline program (non-exhaustive list: MOSAIC, F31 Diversity, IRACDA, MARC, ARC, IMSD, ReWARD, B-INSPIRE, CPACHE, BRAIN Initiative, Cancer Moonshot Scholars Diversity Program).

7/n

Court accepting updated list of plaintiffs/grantees impacted! MUST BE SUBMITTED BY AUGUST 1st 5pm EST! Please disseminate!!!

Message from ACLU team below:

1/n

Computational Urban Ecology of New York City Rats Urban rats are highly adaptable, thriving in the dynamic and often inhospitable conditions of modern cities. Despite substantial mitigation efforts, they remain an enduring presence in urban environme...

New preprint!



tl;dr — We ran around late at night to record wild rats in NYC and figured out how to quantify their behavior and environment. 🧵

w/ Dima Batenkov, @zamakany.bsky.social, Emily Mackevicius

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

Looking for a postdoc or staff scientist with brain slice electrophysiology experience. If you or someone you know is interested in, message me.

Estrous cycle stage gates the effect of stress on reward learning Neuropsychopharmacology - Estrous cycle stage gates the effect of stress on reward learning

Ever wonder how stress and the estrous cycle affects reward learning? Well we have answers for you in our paper led by @askaneuroscientist.bsky.social published in
@npp-journal.bsky.social

And huge thanks to the NIH and NSF who supported this research.

1. NIH won't review proposals "substantially developed" by AI
2. Max of 6 submissions/year as PI

The Fakira Lab at the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University is seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral fellow to join our R01-funded research project focused on neuropeptide receptor function in the context of pain and addiction.

Find some great language for your comment about the need for community input, need for rigorous validation of NAMs & importance of animal research at @faseborg.bsky.social ‘s statement : www.faseb.org/getmedia/9ee... 🧪

🚨Attn philly neuro postdocs🚨Philadelphia SPINE is hosting its annual postdoc symposium again this year and we are looking for applications (due 7/25)! We are seeking applicants with well-developed projects who want to share their work and make new connections! See the link below for more info!